Thank you, John and Millie

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/08/2013 (3511 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I’ve being going through a very challenging time, leaving an abusive marriage, surviving a protracted and difficult divorce, facing ongoing financial difficulties and coping with a degenerative life-threatening condition. The stress has at times been overwhelming.

Yesterday, I decided to treat myself to a walk in Bird’s Hill Park to take in the fresh air and sunshine and get away from it all for an hour.

When I arrived at the trailhead, my tire looked a little low. When I returned from my walk, it was pancake flat. Groan.

I didn’t have a cellphone to call for assistance, and I had no idea how to change a flat tire.

The only other people I saw were an elderly couple sitting on a nearby bench. I approached and asked if they had a cellphone I could use. They did, but we couldn’t get any signal, so the gentleman (in the finest sense of the word) volunteered to change my flat tire.

Afterward, as I was thanking John and his wife, Millie, for their kindness, he told me he was 82 years old! I never would have guessed. He’d been on his knees on the pavement, with a friendly smile, changing my tire. WOW.

I didn’t get their last names or their address so I can’t send them a proper thank you. This is my thank you card to John and Millie of Island Lakes who not only helped me greatly in a bind, but more importantly perhaps, given what I’ve been through lately, they reaffirmed my faith in human nature.

I will definitely pay it forward!

— Shelagh Hudson