My renewed faith in human kindness

So not only have we been dealing with me being on partial bed rest but Tyler's car had to be worked on again...after we'd already spent $1100 on it in January, nonetheless! Friday his car wouldn't shift out of first gear... apparently it went into fail-safe mode because the sensor was bad. Needless to say, we were down to one car for 6 days. So on Tuesday we took Amelia to school, I dropped Tyler off at work and decided I would stop at Target to get a few items that we needed before I went back to pick Tyler up so he could go to my doctor's appointment with me.

I looked around for a motorized cart at Target (I'm not supposed to be doing "active" things) and didn't see one so I attempted to walk through the store. I only had 2 items in my cart and I started sweating and having contractions. Being the stubborn person that I am I insisted on finishing my shopping so I headed to the front of the store and asked if they had a motorized cart that I could use. The lady offered to get one and bring it to me. In the meantime the other store clerk asked if  I was okay and if I'd like a water. As she walked away I apparently looked quite pathetic and this absolute sweetheart of a woman that was in line to checkout nearby asked if I needed help doing my shopping. She said she had nothing to do on Tuesday's but kill time while her husband was at the hospital.

I told her she was so sweet for offering and then she insisted on helping me. I figured I could probably use the help and the company seemed nice too. Her name was Heather. She walked all throughout the store with me reading the prices of the items to me and grabbing the stuff off the shelves and putting them into the little cart for me. She was an angel. She runs a small daycare in Yellow Springs ... too bad she wasn't much closer, I'd pass my kids off to her in a heartbeat! At this point I wanted Heather as my new friend. She was awesome. 

As we were nearing the end of my shopping list (I was looking for hair dye...I can't stand my hair anymore) I remembered earlier she had said something about her husband being at the hospital on Tuesdays so I asked her where he was a doctor. He wasn't a doctor at all. He was having chemo therapy like he does every Tuesday. She said it's been going on for so long that she just couldn't take sitting in the hospital anymore so she tries to save all of her shopping for her Tuesday trips to Columbus. I felt like a worthless person worrying about my hair color as we carried on this conversation. I asked what his prognosis was and she said they don't ask. They never have. They just want to be able to live each day without that knowledge in the back of their mind. I guess his cancer had spread to all sorts of organs over the past 2 years. And prior to this he had no health issues.

Heather didn't have any kids of her own but loved them all like they were hers. You could tell she had a lot of love to give. She even helped me pick out sunglasses for Amelia (I had been promising Amelia a new pair for about 4 months now). Heather checked out in front of me, then help me with my stuff and walked out to the parking lot with me. As we were walking out I said to her, "See that red Jeep Cherokee over there?" She said, "Yes, that's my car. I'm guessing you're right next to me?" We both smiled and laughed and knew we were meant to meet each other that day. She put all the stuff in my car for me and we both reached out to give each other a hug at the same time.

I know most all of you reading this are laughing right now and thinking "typical Galen story." But seriously there aren't many people who would stop and help a perfect stranger like Heather did. The kindness she showed me only makes me want to be a better person. I hope I have the pleasure of running into Heather again. I might try Target on Tuesdays just for that chance.