The Kindness of Strangers

I'm one of those huggy sort of people. I probably drive some folks a little crazy, but that's the way it is. I'm a bonder. I connect with folks quickly over big things, little things--it doesn't much matter. For people who don't like to be touched or hugged, I should probably come with a warning. Got something in common with me? Better not mention it or you might get hugged. Find yourself too close to me in an emotional situation, say in Central Park mulling over John Lennon's absence from this earth at Strawberry Fields and, whoa baby, better not come too close. Do something nice for me? Watch out. And don't even think about being sad or vulnerable, 'cause I'll be on you like white on rice.

So it shouldn't surprise anyone that yesterday found me leaning through a car window in the middle of the Pick 'N Save parking lot hugging a woman who, two minutes earlier, had been a complete stranger.

I was returning to my car after delivering my cart to the store when I spotted a woman jockeying her car into a parking space next to mine. As I hopped into the driver's seat, she caught my eye. She rolled down her window and motioned to me, and I remember thinking (not so nicely), "What now?" I'd just finished shopping for the week and, as Katz will tell you, I'm a chop-chop sort of person--shop, get home (driving slightly over the speed limit), put those groceries away, and move on to the other dozen things on my to-do list for the day. Did I want to take time to talk to some unknown, middle-aged black woman in a parking lot? No, but of course, just like anybody else would, I did.

"You're missing the cap to your tire valve."
"Really?"
"Your air could leak out and you could have a flat tire."
"I had no idea. Thank you for saying something."
"Do you want one?"
"What?"
"Do you want a cap?"
"You have a spare cap? Really?"
"My tire had the same problem last week, so I bought a pack."

In the end, I got a cap for my tire, she got hugged by a crazy lady from the suburbs, and we both, I think, went on to have a better day.