Human Kindness in the Time of Corona

With all the parks closed here in Northern California, I have been taking 2-3 hour hikes on country roads. Yesterday,  I walked for two hours with Maggie, my mini schnauzer. I took photos of wildflowers and scenery, stopping twice to water the dog. Somewhere along the way, at one of the watering stops, my keys fell out of the tiny back pack I carry. I didn't realize they were gone until I got back to the car.

So here I am, locked out, the sun is going down, and I am out of cell phone range. I'm parked at the intersection of a road that hardly ever gets any traffic and a slightly busier one on which folks go zooming by every five minutes or so. I stand at the intersection and flag the first car I see. It stops! Two Mexican gentlemen get out and ask if they can help me. I give them my husband's phone number and ask them to please call him when they get in cell phone range and tell him to come save me and bring the extra set of keys. They offer to drive me but we don't want to give each other Corona so we think better of that option.

Twenty minutes later, I get nervous. The hubs never answers the phone unless he recognizes the number because we get so many junk calls. And he has a tendency to nap before dinner. I flag another car. Night is falling fast. Again, the first vehicle I flag stops. A nice older couple in a pickup. I ask them for the same favor. They have cell reception - better carrier I guess. The lady calls and texts, including a picture she takes of me. No response from the Hubs.

Then, it occurs to me to call my daughter in another city. I know the Hubs, if he's awake, will recognize her number and answer the phone. As the lady dials my daughter, the two Mexican guys pull up behind her. They were concerned about me because they could not reach my husband and came back, 30 minutes out of their way, to make sure I was OK. I thank them profusely and they drive off. The older couple calls my daughter who thankfully answers the phone and promises to keep calling her Dad. They insist on also stopping by our place and knocking on the door. (By the time they did so, the Hubs had already left.) They then called my daughter twice to make sure I was OK!

Since work is abysmally slow right now, I am about to head out and walk 3 miles up one side of that road and 3 miles back down the other side, hoping I can recognize where I watered the dog and maybe find my keys in the tall grass, wildflowers, and weeds. I am not betting on it.

While I'm annoyed with myself for being the ADD-addled twit I have always been, I can't help but be touched by the consideration and human kindness I experienced from 4 perfect strangers.

PS - Went back and retraced my footsteps, combing through the tall grass and weeds with my hiking poll. And guess what? I FOUND MY KEYS!!!