A Sincere Thank You

So...last week I thought I sprained my ankle. I fell on Thursday night, woke up Friday morning and every step made me want to cry. 6 hours in the ER informed me that it was a hairline fracture in my ankle. It's in a cast up to my knee now. Walking on crutches...if you can call it walking.

Anyway, I tried to go into work today. I missed two days, not sure how many more would be needed. I thought I'd be a good sport, see how well I managed and take it from there. The subway is about 6 blocks from my apartment (4 regular and 2 long avenue type-blocks) and I was more afraid of going up and down subway steps more than anything. I did NOT anticipate how horribly difficult it would be just trodding along. I figured it would be slow and tiring. But I was aching, sweating, wheezing. My poor left foot, never having to be so reliant and supportive in all its days was dying. My palms and arms ached. And my dangling cast made my knee ache and I hit my exposed toes on the sidewalk twice because I couldn't hold it high enough.

In almost 45 minutes I managed to go about 4 blocks. (Did I mention that I was carrying a backpack? I don't think it would have made much difference if I wasn't...) I think a total of 5 people asked if I needed help. One guy offered to get me water at the corner store (yeah, I didn't even get 2 blocks before I first felt it). A woman and her Pinscher-like puppy stopped. Her dog wouldn't stop staring at me. She said that he's very tuned into people's emotion. I told him that he was a good boy and I was ok. But every time I moved a little he jumped around like crazy. She told me "Just take your time, you'll get there." She was so soft and sweet. She seemed like a kindergarten teacher.

A lady with a little boy offered to carry my backpack for me. And while she probably meant it, I could only think about what if she ran off with it? Or what if she waited for me and I took forever. Or decided I couldn't make it. I would have no choice. I told each of them "I'm ok, thank you." But it was a lie. I was so not ok, but they really couldn't help. A couple of random guys asked, but they didn't seem nearly as sincere.

I ended up sitting on someone's porch and called for a cab. I had taken a business card from a service I happened to pass by one day and left it in my wallet. Rightly so. Since it was in the neighborhood, he arrived in about 5 minutes and was the single nicest cabbie in all of New York. He helped me into the cab, told me to put my feet up. He had a real conversation with me all the way there. About what happened to me, where I'm from (he guessed Italian, which a lot of people tend to think), where he's from (I've honestly never heard of Tunisia before). He was very funny and kind.

When we finally arrived, he helped me get all of my stuff together and I realized, that though I remembered having $40, I only had $25. The fair was $27 and I certainly had intended to tip him. I was so embarrassed. I just kept telling him "I'm so sorry." He said "It's ok, really no problem. Maybe one day, you get the chance and you can come bring it by." I told him I will, and I really meant it. Or at least, James will. (Perhaps he wasn't being nice as much as realized he could do nothing about it, but still. He could have acted like a real dick.)

I guess the point of all this is that even though bad things happen, it's good to know that there are still some decent people out there. So thank you, for real. Read more: http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/02/expandable-post-summaries.html#ixzz1Ygp5vxLJ