The "FEEL GOOD" Thread

[Dogpatch]

Originally Posted by AZGypsie

I was driving home on the freeway one afternoon. It was a typical AZ summer day, hotter than Hades. I passed a car on the side of the road with a flat. It was a large family with numerous children. The man was looking at his lug wrench like it was an alien being! I actually turned around and went back to see if I could help. Turns out the alien lug wrench didn't fit his car at all nor did mine! To complicate matters, he only spoke Spanish.

I figured I could get him to the next truck stop where we could see if we could locate a wrench for his car.

When we got there I told him to stay in the truck (little Mazda pick up) and I would go see what I could find thinking I was going to get farther speaking English than he would with his Spanish. Well, he didn't listen to me and, after I walked away, got out of the truck locking it up very nicely WITH THE KEYS INSIDE! So now we had to unlock the truck somehow AND find a wrench.

A mechanic took him back to his car so I didn't have to go back. I really do like helping people!

Good one AZGypsie. Not even the language barrier, wrong tire iron and being locked out stopped you from your mission! Well done.

[Possum]

Short note::

A while back Dwayne suggested that some time we should just chat up a stranger and I thought it would be a fun quest. I now meet weekly with a dude whom I met while he was sitting on a bench down by our local quay. He is down on his luck but we do have some interesting conversations.

Thanks Dwayne.

[Dwayne & Shara]

Originally Posted by Possum

Short note::

A while back Dwayne suggested that some time we should just chat up a stranger and I thought it would be a fun quest. I now meet weekly with a dude whom I met while he was sitting on a bench down by our local quay. He is down on his luck but we do have some interesting conversations.

Thanks Dwayne.

♡ this. it amazes me how we can walk by people and never say a word. People know that's not me I'll talk your ear off. And I like to meet new people when I can. If you just watch people you can tell if they are having problems. If so say hello. But some are rude look past it and walk up to someone else to say hi. Just makes me feel good.

[Wayne M]

Dwayne, you make us feel good.

Thank you.

[AZGypsie]

Dad was one of the most caring people I know. This one is about him.

When I was growing up, my father was a business agent for the Operating Engineers Union. He was the voice of the man in the copper mines in Arizona and his job took him all over the southern part of the state.

One year, there was a massive strike going on and it was getting close to Christmas. Dad had to drive to Ajo, about 150 miles away, to distribute Strike Checks to all of the mine workers and, because I was out of school for the either the weekend or holiday break, I got to go with him.

When we got there, everyone met us at the Union Hall. I remember it was a sad place, but no one was complaining and the sense of unity was palpalable. These men knew what they were doing wasn't supposed to be easy in the short term, but was necessary for their long term livelyhoods. Every one shook Dad's hand as he handed them a check for $15.00. I will never forget the amount of that check.

One man came in, grabbed his check and lit out like his tail was on fire. Dad asked a few questions and finished handing out the remaining checks, then looked at me and said "Let's go Sis, we have something to do before we head home!"

So we left and Dad started driving around this little neighborhood, looking at all the houses, searching for an address until he located the place he was looking for. "Let's go and see some people", he said. We went to the door and knocked and the man who had come to the meeting and left in such a hurry answered the door.

"Hola Jose", that was about the extent of my father's Spanish, and Jose's English wasn't much better. I spoke some Spanish and Jose's kids spoke English fairly well, so they both pushed us in front of them to translate. "I hear your wife is pretty sick", my Dad commented to Jose. "Si, Mr. Bill, she lost a baby and has been having a hard time. The other kids help, but its hard. I couldn't stay for the meeting, she needs me to be home and help with all of this." He waved his hand around and as I followed it, I saw more kids. There were at least eight. The house was small, was probably company housing, if not then it was at one time. Jose's wife was bedridden and you could see the kids looked lonely and scared.

My dad reached in his pocket and pulled out another check. "Jose, they told me you were having a hard time of it down at the Union Hall. I want you to have this". Jose took the check but he didn't look at it, he thanked Daddy and we left.

When we got home that night, Dad and Mom went back to their bedroom for a discussion. Its where they always went to talk when they didn't want us kids to know what was going on and, around Christmas time, there was alot of meeting in the bedroom!!

They were only in there for a few minutes and Dad called us all into the living room. He proceeded to tell my brothers and sisters what we had seen in Ajo and how bad off Jose and his family were. Then he said, "I got paid before we left for Ajo today, but I didn't have a chance to go to the bank. After seeing what Jose and his family were dealing with, I signed my paycheck over to him. Now we are not going to go hungry and our bills are paid and the roof is in good shape. It may not be the biggest Christmas that we ever had, but it will be the best."

It was.

[Dogpatch]

AZGypsie. That story truly touched me and I teared up reading it!

Your Dad's selfless gift to that family is one of the best posts I've read here. I can see why you saw him as your hero!

Thanks for sharing!

[AZGypsie]

Nothing made dad happier that feeling needed. He was like that with his kids and everyone else's kids! He was just Bill (or Uncle Bill) to so many kids. I will soon be 60. When I was a teenager, my parents divorced and after a brief time of living with my mom, we all wound up living with dad. He bought a boat ($800 for boat, motor and trailer) and didn't really know one end of it from the other but we all learned together. That included all our friends. As we grew and moved away, married and had kids of our own, all those friends would still come to my dads house and bring their little ones.

That boat was the catalyst for tons of fun and work. My sister named it "Willette Runn" and proudly painted it on the bow. We all learned to drive it and water ski behind it and Dad was our teacher. I remember one camping trip with Dad and 17 teenagers (I kid you not!) and no one got hurt, was ever disrespectful, or did anything wrong. They would have lost boating privileges.

But back to the topic, he just loved every minute of that! He glowed when those kids brought their kids around and he just felt so loved. Doing good things comes with rewards we have no measure of sometimes.

[99-Am.Star]

AZGypsie, I read the story and was also touched. I also had to laugh at the wording your dad said as you left the meeting, "Let's go sis." My father in law always called my wife sis till the day he died about 5 years ago at 97. My wife got a chuckle out of it also as I read it to her. Kind'a made our day also.

[jacwjames]

DogPatch

Glad to see the thread still thriving.

There is a thread in Just Conversation that brought a smile to my face and thought some people following this thread may have missed it.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f64/dog-l...nd-262206.html

Anyway, it brought back a memory from ~25 years ago.

My wife was just getting into dog showing and training. At the time we had a Golden Retriever she was taking to obedience classes, a male Pekingese and a female puppy Pekingese that we had just recently purchased. She was traveling back from an obedience class with the retriever an puppy when a drunk driver came out of nowhere an T-boned her in her small Ranger Ford pickup truck. The truck flipped on its side, skidding to a stop in the middle of the divided 4 lane highway. It was ~10PM at night.

I worked in the local mines and was up early so also early to bed. I got the phone call from a complete stranger that my wife was in an accident,that she was OK, and where he was. I hit the road fast and came up on the accident, by that time the police were there. I got out of my car and walked up to my wife and policeman, she was hysterical. She was bruised up but OK and she had the retriever. Turns out the small puppy could not be found. At about that time a guy came up and said that he thought he saw something run in front in his car as he drove out on a small road.

I asked the officer if I could borrow his flashlight & off I went. I walked down the road not seeing anything for a long while and then in the distance I saw some eyes, but when I approached it turned out to be a cat. Thinking about this I decided to walk down the center of a large field and shine the light all the way around thinking I might get lucky and I did. I saw some eyes peering out from under a large pile of brush, it was the puppy. Had to crawl in to get it as she was scared.

I carried her out to the road and handed to my wife, she broke down crying. The police officer was amazed and commented that "you must really love that dog". I quickly commented that "we just got it and paid $800 for I wasn't coming back without it ". I also knew my wife wouldn't sleep until we found the dog.

The puppy lived to be ~12 years old, gave my wife 2 litters of champion dogs so I guess we got lucky that day. We now own 2 Curly Coated Retrievers and 7 Pekinese so the saga continues

[puttin]

Originally Posted by sam-3

This group came to camp two sites away from us and they asked for matches and they forgot to bring some. DH helped them get their firelog/fire started. They didn't have much firewood so I gave them enough for the night even though it meant I would have to buy more. Their tent had a rip in it. The leader didn't know how to get her camp stove lit. She explained her dad had always done the camp/cooking. The past winter he had a five time rollover with his car and landed in a lake. Now he is paralized. I realized the young adults didn't have warm clothes for the 50degrees night temps. I emptied out my RV wardrobe and extra blankets from our winter survival kit in our truck. The leader only had poptarts for the next mornings breakfast. DH fired up the oven in our RV and made almost a whole box of pancake mix into delecious flapjacks. I also had enough breakfast sausage for them and Hot Chocolate. I offered to make them lunches for their day in the amusement park. They had plenty of snacks. I have enjoyed reading all the posts even though it made me cry happy tears. Same camping trip we got asked to help a solo camper spot him while he backed in his 30ft. rig. Then he lost his cell phone. I was able to call his # and he found the cell phone that had fallen in his laundry basket. I am a blessed four time cancer survivor. Last year I was able to get grant $ for my chemotherapy bills. I have no medical debt!! I am in remission and doing well.

sam-3,

I too am a survivor (one time). I was very touched by your story and thanks for posting it. I know that group must reflect often on all the kindness you extended them when they really needed it. I know somewhere and sometime we'll all have opportunities to help out. I've really enjoyed this thread- thank you everybody!

[Dogpatch]

Originally Posted by jacwjames

DogPatch

Glad to see the thread still thriving.

I carried her out to the road and handed to my wife, she broke down crying. The police officer was amazed and commented that "you must really love that dog". I quickly commented that "we just got it and paid $800 for I wasn't coming back without it ". I also knew my wife wouldn't sleep until we found the dog.

The puppy lived to be ~12 years old, gave my wife 2 litters of champion dogs so I guess we got lucky that day

Great story Jim.

Without you the pup in all likelihood would not have survived.

Our kindness and caring is definitely something that needs to be extended to animals and especially our pets.
They can't speak for themselves and rely on us.
They give so much and ask nothing in return except our our love.

[Dwayne & Shara]

Well yesterday and I was asked by a couple if I knew anything about RVs and of course I said yes and they had a noise coming from the air conditioner in the basement so I asked when was last time you change the air filter and they said we never have we can't find it so I show them where it was removed it it was about 2 inches thick with dust dog hair and dirt so I told him to go get a new one let their air conditioner unfreeze and see if it fixes it they did it did then of course they offered money I said no if you see something you need help them. Pay it forward! Real nice people.

[Dwayne & Shara]

Did I mention that on the coach for 7 years and never change the air filter

[sam-3]

We were camping at a state park in NY when we watched a guy come in with a minivan and a popup. One end of the bed end didn't look right. We went over to see if we could help. He needed parts from an RV dealer. Turns he was a disabled veteran/homeless. He went from park to park because of the two week limit. His dog jumped on the good bed end and made it collapse. He was trying to lift the trailer and it looked horrible for his back. DH brought over his bottle jack and righted the trailer. We fixed supper and I brought him over a plate of food. Sad part of story. I always wished I had a country property were he could live with his dog in a back house. Any way that winter I read in the paper where he was trying to use his popup in a closed business. It is freezing cold in Rochester,NY. He had a heater accident and burned to death. I think of him from time to time and wonder how this could happen in the USA.