For the kindness of strangers...

I know I haven't blogged in a while and this blog is not about my hypnosis shows, I'll write about my month of June later (I promise). This blog is about the kindness of strangers. This is the kind of story we should hear more about in our daily lives. And I could not be more greatful.

I did have 2 hypnosis shows scheduled yesterday, a 7:30 pm show at Normandy Farms Campground in Foxboro, Massachusetts and my last college orientation show at Becker College, scheduled for 11:00 pm. I left my house very early. I was going to take my time and drive up and enjoy the blue skies that finally arrived. If you live in Connecticut and New England you know about how bad the weather had been the entire month of June. As I was approaching the Foxboro exit I saw some very dark clouds overhead. I decided to stop at the Wrentham Outlet Shops before going to the campground. There was too much traffic at the shops so I continued to the campground. I don't know what made me look but I noticed needle on the battery gauge on my dashboard start to move down to the red zone. Not a good sign. As I drove on Route 1 I passed the street for the campground just as the rain started to come down in buckets. A little bit up the road was a NAPA store. I thought my battery was going dead, so I pulled in just as my car lost power completely. I bought a battery but had no tools to install it. The sales people were of no help at all. They just wanted to sell me the tools to do it myself. They suggested I try the used car lot next door.

Through the pouring rain, I ran over and pleaded my case. They were willing to help. One of the guys came back to my car with a booster pack, jumped the car and had me drive it around to the back of their lot. They had a single garage bay to work on their own cars. He open the door which let a flood of rain in to the garage. By now the rain was torrential and it was hailing big marble size hail. This was some of the worst weather I have ever seen. And did I mention I was soaked from head to toe. As he switched batteries he told me my alternator was dead. I would have to wait until Monday to get this fixed. I told him about how important it was for me to get to my shows. He called his mechanic, who was at a family event and told him my problem. The mechanic did not want to come but eventually agreed to. I went back to NAPA, which was closing up, bought the alternator and waited for the mechanic.

I knew I had to compensate the mechanic for his time but I had no cash. The guys at the dealership let me borrow a car off the lot, drive to a bank and use the ATM. Route1 by Gillette Stadium was flooded, bad. I got back and the mechanic showed up and fixed my car. When all was done I offered a tip to the guys from the car lot, after all they did for me, changing the battery, calling the mechanic and letting me borrow a car. They refused my money. I did pay the mechanic and it was well worth it.

Total time from driving into NAPA until I drove away was less than 2 hours. My 2 shows last night were terrific. My only regret about this entire experience, I did not ask the names of the 3 men that helped me out. It didn't seem neccessary as it felt like we were old friends. We did talk about many things during my stay in the car lots office, and this conversation seemed natural.

I want to take this opportunity to tell everyone who these nice people are:

Foxboro Auto Wholesale
130 Washington Street, Route 1
Foxboro, MA 02035
508.698.8888
www.foxboroauto.com

To these 3 men, this is a day I will never forget. THANK YOU so very much for your kindness.
I wonder what would my day have been like had I stopped at the outlet shops.

Steve