Karma Chameleon

One of our neighbors has awesome furniture on her front porch. She has one pink and one orange plastic adirondack chair and a bright blue table in between them. We saw her on her porch one day, complimented the chairs and asked where she found them.

She told us that she found them at the grocery store quite close to us. We went there, but they were already sold out. Sad.

When Grandfather had the deck redone at the cabin so one could sit on it without fear of death, we once again thought about outside furniture. Grandfather mentioned colored adirondack chairs, and I set myself on an epic Internet search in an attempt to find them. I could not.

A couple years pass. This past weekend, Andrew stopped at the grocery for milk and called me from the store. They had the chairs!

Last night, we bought six chairs--two for our house and four for the cabin. They are lovely.

Now, before we go farther on this story, you need to know that Andrew and I met while working retail to earn money for college. Think of the largest, most soul-sucking big-box store you can. Got it? That's where we worked. I believe it is God's attempt to keep me humble. "How did you and your partner meet?" "Um, well..."

While working at said store, we used to get great amusement out of the people who bought giant televisions and then tried to fit them into their compact cars.

You see where this story is headed.

The thing about these chairs is that they don't bend. They're not gigantic chairs, but they are very awkwardly shaped. We were in the parking lot of the grocery trying to fit the chairs into the back of our Vibe, which has a pretty big cargo capacity, letitbeknown. Two chairs in. Two chairs out. Three chairs--nope, won't fit. Two chairs back in. Two other chairs attempted at a 90 degree angle--nope. This went on for awhile.

A minivan pulls up beside us, and the driver calls out the window, "Do you live far?" We start to laugh, knowing we've become the people with the TV and the Smart Car. She says kindly, "I just don't think you're going to make it with those chairs."

Four chairs go into the back of her minivan, and two go into the back of our car. She, her husband, and her two children follow us home and unload. After we thank them profusely for rescuing us, we ask if they will take any compensation. The husband replied, "No. Just do it for someone else when you have a bigger car than they do."

The kindness of strangers.

This nice family created a lot of good karma. Not only did they help us out of a ridiculous scenario, but we'll both remember their kindness when we see someone trying to put a TV into their Smart Car. Instead of laughing, we'll offer to transport it for them.

Well, if I'm honest, we might still laugh, but just a little.