I’d been having a terrible week thus far, but tonight, all I am now is thankful. After I got off work, I walked to where my car was parked on the street, only to find myself completely boxed in, with no room to maneuver whatsoever. The truck in back of me had plenty of space, while the sedan in front of me had a workable amount, but unless I could get my car to move horizontally, there was no way I was going to be able to get out. Because I’d parked in front of the block of fraternity/sorority houses, I began walking door to door to knock and ask if any of them were the owner of either vehicle. A guy pointed out to me early on that the car in front of me had a sorority sticker on it, so that that house would be a good bet. Unfortunately, it turned out that there was an on-campus event for the sorority that wouldn’t be over ’til about an hour later.

At that point, I decided that if I couldn’t find the truck owner, my best bet would just be to hang out until after the event was over. Since it was getting dark, one guy from the frat accompanied me as I continued going house to house down the block. Two guys — one a valet parker, and one an employee at Lexus — checked to see if they might be able to skillfully get my car out (consensus: spot was way too tight).

Later on, I ran into a sorority girl who felt terrible about the situation. She walked me down several blocks to a friend’s apartment so I could wait things out, and even exchanged phone numbers with me so that she could call if she saw that it was clear. After waiting only ten or so minutes at my friend’s, I heard from her that she had managed to locate some people who knew the car owner. Fifteen minutes later, I was finally able to drive away.

It was amazing to me tonight just how many people were willing to go out of their way to try and help. Some of my friends were annoyed that the other organizations weren’t more helpful, but I’m just grateful for the few that were kind. After having a hard time — especially at work lately — it was incredibly refreshing to run into people who were willing to go out of their way for a total stranger.