The Kindness of Strangers

This blog is a few days past due but in any event, here it is. I titled this blog "The Kindness of Strangers" because I encounter this phrase generally on a daily basis, some acts of kindness greater than others but all noted and appreciated. A simple act such as a stranger holding open a door; a woman offering to pay for my Tim Hortons because I somehow forgot they don't take debit; the bus driver who slows down to wait for me as I sprint toward him.
On Friday I encountered the kindness of a stranger on a whole new level. I am applying to teacher's college and was invited by York University to be interviewed for a spot in their faculty. The way York went about this was to send me a letter requesting an interview and then giving me 5 days to choose from for the following week. Seeing as I haven't informed my boss of my teacher's college applications, I opted for a Saturday interview at 9:30am so that I wouldn't have to explain taking a day off during the week or come up with a lame excuse. There I was, Friday night, arriving at the Ottawa bus terminal one hour earlier than my bus was scheduled to leave. I thought I was being smart, arriving early to secure a spot, because it was the beginning of Family Day weekend. What I didn't realize was that it was also the beginning of Ottawa U and Carleton U's reading weeks which explained the hundreds of people at the bus station. Literally, hundreds. There were two lines snaking this way and that throughout the terminal, one for Montreal and one for Toronto and it took me about ten minutes to find the end of the Toronto line.
In front of me stood a girl, who looked like she was in her early twenties and possibly a student. We started chatting idly about the amount of people in line, about line up etiquette, about school and our jobs, anything to pass the time really and keep us focused on the fact that we were at the end of a very very long line up. After about an hour and a half of waiting in the line for Toronto (and not moving whatsoever for no buses had come in that 1.5 hours), I decided to go to the front of the line and ask someone how long they'd been waiting for. A young guy at the front of the line informed me he had been waiting over six hours...he had been trying to get on a 2pm bus scheduled to leave for Toronto. I returned to my spot at the back of the snaking line and calmly told my line up friend the bad news. I weighed various options in my head such as "I could cab it to the train station and see if I could catch a train", "I could cab it to the airport and see if I could get on a last minute flight to Toronto", "I could ask my boyfriend's mum to borrow her car for the night"...and so on and so forth because I knew I wasn't getting home by the Greyhound that night. I tried not to think of the fact that I might not be able to make it home for my interview and therefore have my application from York be rejected for failing to show up.
My line up friend got on her cell phone and after hanging up, turned around and said "I just spoke to my mum, I'm going to go home, get in my car and drive to Toronto instead...would you like a ride?" And just like that, I encountered one of the nicest acts of kindness ever. My line up friend Tonya saved my butt that night.
I paid for a cab ride back to her house, we hopped into her car and proceeded to enjoy a four hour drive to Scarborough Town Centre (where she dropped me off), chatting the entire way. I made it home that night (pretty late but home...and that was the most important thing) and to my interview the next morning and I can honestly say it was all thanks to my line up friend and her kindness.
Thanks to all the strangers out there whose little acts of kindness really make a difference. Now it's my turn to give back and I'm taking advantage of any opportunity that comes my way.