JUST A SLUG in the sunshine

So, being my mother's daughter, I set out on foot today for the approximately eight-mile round trip walk to the library…backpack loaded down with books, computer, and snacks. I often find it easier to “work” outside the home, seeing as there is no pile of laundry or dishes to taunt me while concentrating.

On my return trip home, I stopped at a street corner to wait for the cross signal. An older, Indian man with a cane stood beside me. At first opportunity, he was quick to inform me he still had a car, but was so often confined to the house that he was proud to be outdoors, on foot, at 86 years old. I smiled, confirming my respect for this stranger.

Upon noticing the traffic change, I realized he hadn't yet pushed the crosswalk button and so I did before swiftly taking his arm to alert him to the urgency of crossing while we still had a green light. He was unable to step off the curb unassisted, so I slowed my pace and helped him. All the while, he continued to talk about his life and family, and referred to me “like a daughter” as I helped him.

Once on the other side, I decided to cross again with him in a different direction than I was headed, seeing as I hadn’t yet figured out where he was heading or how he planned to arrive there. I pushed the button and waited, listening to his stories. Again, I helped him down the curb and held his arm as we crossed the larger intersection. I could see that he was not going to make it in time, and so I stepped back, released his arm, and averted turning traffic to ask they steer around him. By the time we reunited on the far side, he had informed me of his destination and I felt comfortable leaving him there by the sheriff’s station to wait for his son to pick him up.

I turned then to head back in the direction of home. Only a few steps later, a car pulled to the side of the road and a  kind man reached out of his window. Assuming he was waiting to turn, I jumped ahead to allow him the right-of-way when I noticed money in his hand.

“Hey, kudos to helping that old man back there. To see someone like you helping someone else. That was amazing.”

I giggled aloud, perhaps uncomfortable with the acknowledgement that clearly this man thought I was homeless. I responded with a brief “no, no thank you…pay it forward to someone else." He shot up in his seat awkwardly, perhaps shocked to see I had all my teeth when smiling back at him. I could tell once he saw me up close he realized that this somewhat disheveled being, buried somewhere beneath an oversize pack and a baseball hat sheltering my unkempt hair, was just a normal soccer mom…caught out in the wild, outside of her over-sized SUV. I liken it to seeing a snail without a shell and feeling sorry for it, and then realizing…it’s just a slug.

Grandma slug in her natural habitat

The occasion moved me for two reasons.

First, there is the idea that someone would reward another human being for doing a good deed. While I commend the man who stopped to give me money because it seemed a truly altruistic response, it frightens me that it is so unusual to see someone helping a stranger, that people are shocked by it.

Second, the idea that a woman could be…just for the sh*ts and giggles of it, walking instead of driving, backpack and all, shows me that we need to get outside more. Yes, there is part of me that feels motivated to use my able body right now because of some of the less fortunate people in my life...

But really, aren’t helping others and getting outside things we should all be doing more of?

So, go on. Fill your backpack or fanny pack or six pack...whatever. Go on foot. Go in the sunshine. Talk to someone you don't know along the way. Few things feel so intrinsically rewarding.

Trust me.

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