Humanity Does Exist.

When I woke up to two cranky children this morning, I decided that I needed to cut our vacation a night short, despite me REALLY not wanting to.  Now when I say cranky, I mean Pierce throwing himself across the room in a temper tantrum, and Carter not letting me put him down.  Honestly, it is to be expected.  I mean after all, they have had absolutely NO routine, and have been dragged across upstate NY for the last 3 beautiful, glorious, amazing days.

After breaking down camp, Trisha, Chris, and I decided to take the boys to see trains.  After all, that is what Pierce man wanted to do.  We found this amazing scenic train that we have planned for the next time I come up there; I think it was called the Saratoga and North Creek railway.  I will double check that.  The conductor was so nice, and let Pierce explore the outside of the train, even though we did not purchase tickets to ride this time.  From the trains we went and explored this AMAZING playground in Milton, that had bells, drums, and a huge rock wall built into the playground.  It even had a good old fashioned sand box and see saws too!  We played on the playground for just about an hour and a half, before we peeled the kiddos out of there.  This too is also on my list of things to go back to.

This is where the humanity comes in.  After I had the kids loaded into my car, we started heading home.  I stopped in Lee, to change diapers, use the restrooms, etc.  It really is the last place I can stop before CT.  I parked my car, put my phone, keys, and wallet into the center console to later load into the diaper bag, look up, and was bumped by a car trying to back into the spot next to me.  I beeped my horn, and was a little dumbfounded, and also had a screaming Pierce because he did not want to get out of our car.  The car that bumped me did no damage, and they did not speak English.  So I just told them no worries, have a nice day.  I did this while getting the kids out and locking all the doors on my car (not something I honestly normally do).  I went inside, looked in the diaper bag, and no keys.  No wallet.  No cell phone.  I get back out to the car, and there they are sitting in the center console.

I walked over to a truck where an older gentlemen was sitting, with the intention of just wanting to use his cell phone to call Dan or the police.  He happened to be a mechanic, who had a slim jim in his box of tools.  Score?  Not quite.  He wasn't able to hook my lock mechanism, but tried, without being asked, for 40 minutes.  In the mean time, another gentlemen, closer to my age, had seen everything that happened, and asked if he could use his AAA to bail me out.  Of course I am not going to say no, and said if he wanted to sure.  It turns out, this guy was on his way back from a weekend at the track, and had a kiddo Pierce's age at home.

Long story short, you cannot use AAA on the Mass Pike, since the Mass Pike has their service vehicles that bail you out.  Which also means they write you a bill, and you send it in with a check.  Now we are close to being in this for two hours, and all I wanted was to get in my car, where Carter's formula was, and Pierce's food was (the second kind man had an extra sippy cup, and a brand new gallon of water.  That placated both kids for a bit).  After the Mass Pike worker giving us an ear full for tinted windows on my car (?), he was FINALLY able to pop the lock open - after denting the door, but whatever.  I told the kind gentlemen that I needed to put the kids in the car and get the AC going to cool them off, and he told me to call Danny, and let him know everything was okay.  I got off the phone with Danny, went to collect my bill, and the service worker said it was already taken care of.  The very kind gentlemen paid my bill for me.  I begged him to please let me have it, or to pay him in some way.  He told me no, I can actually help someone for now, so I am going to.  Just make sure you take care of the kiddos.  And he wouldn't even give me his name or anything.

So, to the kind people who helped a very exhausted momma today, thank you so incredibly much.  You gave me hope in a world that tends to be very self centered.  It is people like you that keep this world going, and one day when I have the extra cash, I will pay it forward.

We safely arrived home, and I had two little boys who were very thankful to see Daddy and Amber.  :)  And at this point, they are sleeping, and I am heading to bed.  Good night everyone.