Faith Restored

I wish I could say my story of kind strangers revolves around my imminent survival, but it doesn’t. My sheltered world has allowed me the luxury of never knowing true starvation or homelessness. But at times when my life has felt like it’s spiraling out of control, kind strangers appeared to save me. Even though I would have lived to see another day, when you’re panicked and worried and this one thing just sends you over the edge of sanity into why-does-everything-bad-happen-to-me mode, you don’t always think through the logic of knowing you’re going to be okay.

I was in college going after a dual degree. I was also working two jobs, both part-time, and I covered my rent, utilities, and ordering takeout all by myself with those two jobs. Sleep happened, but only because I’d be so exhausted I fell asleep on my desk while trying to get just a little more of that next paper figured out. Then I got fired from one of my jobs because I was late to work twice – the second time was by 3 minutes because I talked to a classmate for an extra minute and a half after class and hit the red light that lasted forever on that one road.

Okay, so that’s horrible and a huge blow to my self-confidence, but, hey, I'll have time to sleep a bit more now! And maybe I'll find another job that I like more because I really, really hated working at that fast food place. Except their fries were awesome. If I wait until next semester, I could probably get a better job as a waitress and earn tips. Yeah, okay, so it’s going to be fine.

Until my teacher told us he was disappointed in some of our grades and that someone had actually gotten a D, who gets a D, so remember to actually focus on the topic and come visit during office hours if we don’t know how to write an essay. Guess who got a 62 on the first paper of the semester two days after being fired. I’d give you three guesses but you probably only need one.

Ohmygosh. I got a D?! WHAT?!?! What about my other papers? Is this because I didn’t work hard enough? I didn’t spend enough time on it? ….maybe it’s a good thing I got fired. Maybe I don’t deserve to have a job at all. Or go to college. I’m clearly a failure at everything.

The next day was raining. I straightened my hair the night before, to try and cheer myself up with some pretty, so of course it was raining and I couldn’t find the hood attachment for my rain jacket. Fine. The world hates me. I get it. I’ll go to class, make sure my backpack isn’t open and let’s rain get on my anything like how my Art History textbook got destroyed that one time, come home for a quick ramen, then go to my second job to take care of some animals. Everything’s going to be fine.

Except I can’t find my blue pen. But there’s a bunch of blue ink all over the notebook I need to start using for my History of China class because I filled the last one. And the line was definitely too long to try and get Chik-Fil-A between lectures so no lunch for me. Oh and one of the lights is on in my car. Is it a tire pressure thing? Did I forget to change the oil? Is my car about to explode? Looking back, life could definitely be worse – it was still raining though.

I made myself cup ramen because I didn’t have the brain for using a pan and I paid for it so damn it I could eat it and not be judged. I purposefully didn’t think about making a peanut butter and jelly because even though I had the stuff for it, I just wanted these few minutes for me.

I got in the car, ignoring the light telling me something was wrong. I backed up, noting the puddle getting larger on the right side of the driveway of the house my roommate and I rented. We should probably tell management to fix that small hole. It’s not too big, but when it rains like this, things could get bad if one of us drove into it, I thought to myself. I’ll drive closer to the left...

THUD!!

...what just happened?

Why is the car tilted?

I can see the puddle, so I can’t be in it so what happened to my car?!

Opening the driver’s door, I looked behind me to see that in my calculation of not driving into a small hole, I had backed too far to the left into the trench the city used for water and sewage runoff which the driveway technically was built over.

What even was my life. Who does this happen to? My car was in a trench.

I texted my boss, hoping she would understand random emergencies. I even took a picture of my car with the back left side in the ditch and sent it to her. Then I cried.

I wasn’t going to get to work. I couldn’t move the car by myself. It was a car! A two-ton death trap that I’d driven into a ditch! I wouldn’t be able to work. Ever. Even when my roommate got back we wouldn’t be able to move the car. I wouldn’t be able to get to class tomorrow. What if I failed because I couldn’t get the class and the instructor kicked me out for poor attendance? What if I never got a job, ever? What if I slipped and fell and hit my head just right, right now, and I broke my neck and died and nobody knew or cared?

I wrapped my arms around my chest, sobbing. I couldn’t even feel the rain, but I stepped away from the ditch so I wouldn’t slip.

My parents lived too far away to be of help. My boyfriend, too. But if he wasn’t working, he could maybe drive the hour to come help me...

Headlights beamed through the dark rain. And....slowed? Oh no, what if they tried to kidnap the random chick on the side of the road?! My phone was in the car - I'd be easy pickings!

“Hey, do you need help?” a female voice yelled. Female? Unlikely to try to kidnap me. Everyone knows males are more likely to be criminals.

I looked at the car closer and nodded my head, still crying.

“Let’s do this!” the same woman yelled.

She got out of the driver’s backseat wearing a navy blue jumpsuit. Two guys got out from the front seats and slammed their doors behind them. They all jogged across the street, to me and my car, the wipers still moving on their SUV. The woman said something to the guys but I couldn’t hear it. Or I was in too much shock to hear it.

One guy jumped down into the ditch while the other grabbed the bumped from the driveway. I was too preoccupied with them to notice where the woman was, but I heard her. Steadily, she said “One, two, three!” As if they’d done this a thousand times, they lifted, grunted, and positioned my car properly on the driveway.

Then they just jogged back to their SUV.

“Thank you!! Thank you!” I screamed. The woman waved before getting in the backseat again, but they didn’t hang around or say anything more.

All the doors slammed once more, and the SUV continued its drive up the road. They didn’t tell me their names, or ask for anything. These kind strangers saw me in need, helped, and carried on their way. Even though I lived at that house for over a year, I never saw them again.

If I ever get the chance to see them again, I'll probably just scream “thank you” at them some more.

Oh, and I made it to work.