I experienced four acts of Christmas kindness this past year.
It was a morning like any other in Rosedale except the snow hit hard overnight so the morning commute to work was assumed to be a challenge and it was, my wife got stuck in the driveway. After 20 minutes of shovelling, pushing, rocking the car back and forth my son and I were able to get her car out to the street and the snow was deep. I then realized I wouldn’t be commuting to Vancouver and decided to drive my wife to work in Chilliwack. She jumped in the car and we left in a hurry, forgetting to bring my wallet or put my socks on my feet. We travelled west on Yale Road which hadn’t been plowed yet and finally arrived to her workplace albeit about 30 minutes late.
I then decided to purchase some last minute Christmas treats from Save-On Foods. Making my purchase at the till the cashier asked for my Save-On-Card, I replied, “not today” and presented my wife’s debit card. Then someone in the lineup offered their card so I could receive the discounted price of my purchase. It was a simple act of kindness and was appreciated not just by me but by the cashier and the other shoppers in the line-up. We all wished each other a Merry Christmas and I left to push my shopping cart through the snow, wind and falling ice rain back to my car.
I arrived at my car a little out of breath and noticed a man scrapping the ice off his windows as I placed my groceries in the car, I’m thinking I’ll be doing the same in a few minutes. Returning my shopping cart to the supermarket I decided to go inside and warm up for a few minutes as I had no jacket with me.
About five minutes later I returned to my car to find that same man had scraped the ice off the windows of my car and he was just finishing up my back window! Passing by him I said “Isn’t nice when we have an event that people come together?” And as I opened my car door I looked at him, he gave me a big toothy smile put his hand out, shook my hand and, said “Merry Christmas sir!” I smiled, wished him the same, and we left it at that. His act of kindness made me feel good and I believe he felt good, too!
I drove home to Rosedale with ease as the road was freshly plowed. It was around noon when I received a text from my wife saying her workplace was closing early due to the poor weather so I returned to pick her up.
We were travelling on Cheam Avenue and turning left onto First Ave and I ran into some deep snow in the curb lane and we were stuck. I got out and starting digging out the snow, immediately a young burly bearded lad in his early 20s pulled his truck over, brought out his shovel and started digging. A minute later, a young fella walking on the sidewalk came over and took my shovel out of my hand and started digging. Next, a guy in his 50s crossed the street and offered to help push and then another guy came out of nowhere with a shovel and started digging and then yet another young lad show up offering to push as well. “Who are all these people?” I asked myself. They all showed up within a few minutes. It was like bees swarming a bee hive. I was so feeling so thankful I secretly took a couple of pictures to remember these guys.
I found my self in my car with enough man power to pull a hay wagon.
Yet after 20 minutes or more we couldn’t get the car to move an inch. Finally after many attempts I got out of my car to thank everyone for their time and effort and that I was now calling a tow truck. Then, a car pulled up and a lady got out and enthusiastically said “Come on everyone, let’s rock this car back and forth and push him out!” I smiled and said “We’ve been at it a while with no luck.”
She said “Put your floor mat under the front wheel and we’ll push you out.” The burly young lad brought his floor mat from his truck and placed it under my tire and they pushed me out in three seconds. I got out to thank everyone and the lady was already on her way and I didn’t get a chance to thank her for her brilliant floor mat idea to gain traction.
Looking back over my car at these good Samaritans standing there and I said “Hey guys. you know with all trouble going on the world today, it’s moments like this that make a real difference. You guys are awesome! Thank you so much, Merry Christmas!”
My wife and I decided to chance a few last minute errands pending the ensuing storm in the weather forecast. We finally arrived home after dark and we were glad to be home to settle in for Christmas. Our son came in a while later soaking wet, cold and hungry looking for dinner as he had spent the day clearing snow from our neighbour’s driveways and helping tow cars that were stuck in the snow.
Life is good, life is good in Chillwack!
Merry Christmas.
Rick Helmig
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