The Kindness of Strangers

We picked up our 20 year old daughter, Eden, at the downtown Toronto bus station at noon on Saturday. She was hauling her boxed bike, panniers and hiking backpack, and was wearing a periwinkle blue colored tank top, a light grey jacket and her glorious strawberry blond hair braided to the side. She looked like a tree in blossom. Radiant. This, even though she had been on the bus from Washington overnight, having bussed to there the previous morning from Charlottesville.  I hugged her tightly and told her I was so happy she was home safely and she smiled shyly and said "I think I smell- I haven't had the chance to wash my clothes in the last couple of weeks". She smelled fine- more than fine- I couldn't smell her but I wouldn't have cared. I didn't realize how relieved I was that she was home and that nothing untoward had happened during her two week solo bike trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia, U.S.A. Yes that's right- her "solo" bike trip. This was not the first time she had done this. Last summer she biked on her own from Kingston to Halifax, camping in peoples' backyards.

Here she is just starting out on a previous trip

She said she preferred to go on her own 'cause then she didn't have to answer to anybody or compromise at all. She could experience exactly what she wanted when she wanted. She admitted that it could be lonely but she was willing to pay that price and besides she said- it is good to get used to your own company and it is character-building. Both times she took her cell phone (and with my son-in-law Phil's stern corroboration that it was necessary to keep your cell phone charged- it wasn't even safe- thank-you Phil) and at my insistence, texted us at least once a day to let us know she was alright. I realize that this provided a false sense of security- that she could be fine the minute she texted us and hurt or kidnapped the next minute and we wouldn't know, but somehow it gave me comfort.

I have a lot of confidence in my daughter's abilities- it's not that at all- it's that she is 20, fiercely independent, doesn't like to ask for or take help from anybody, beautiful and travelling alone in mountain country. When I described her trip, many people grimaced or immediately started humming the banjo theme song from Deliverance- the movie that highlighted the type of folk who city slickers could run afoul of in mountain country- inbred,  depraved, sexually crazed, rifle carrying hillbillies or worse. Like who could be worse? Do you mind! This is not helpful.

And in fact she did get picked up by a couple. She was biking on the Skyline Trail and the temperature had been dropping rapidly until it had started to snow. She did not have any warm clothes and was hypothermic- shivering, teeth chattering, muscles twitching- the whole nine yards. She had stopped at one of the infrequent rest areas along the way and was spotted by a middle-aged couple who asked her if she needed a ride. They had a truck so tossed (not literally- Eden wouldn't take to tossing of "the precious") her bike in the back and transported her to a lodge where she wisely decided to spend the night rather than camp in the snow. This unnamed, compassionate couple bought her a hot meal and gave her the aforementioned jacket. Out of the kindness of their hearts. Thank you.  Thank you, benevolent strangers for seeing somebody in need and stepping up instead of just driving away. Thank you for buying her a meal. Thank you for giving her a jacket. I wish I knew more about you so I could send you some flowers, or a card or email even. But I know you don't care about that. You are good charitable people who saw a young woman who at that moment in time, needed some care, and you gave it to her.  Thank you for your kindness to my daughter.  I will pay it forward.