Random Acts of Kindness

Yesterday I went into Boston to get my hair cut. I left early so as to get a parking space and low and behold, the entire block of Newbury Street between Clarendon and Dartmouth was open. Amazing? Does arriving in Boston before 10am really reward you with such bounty of parking? Well, yes and no. I park IN FRONT of my hair salon (unbelievable I say to myself), get out of the car and receive my random act of kindness: The Meter Maid is standing there waiting for me to get out, to warn me that I am in a loading zone and if I don't move I'll get a $55 dollar ticket. If I just back up one spot, she says, I should be fine. I admit, I had to play the role of naive suburbanite because she was definitely speaking to me like I was one: "Honey, you have to read ALL the signs". But in the end, I decided that didn't matter. She was still saving me $55 as I definitely did NOT read all the signs and would have parked there and gotten a ticket. There is a man in front of me in the same predicament. As I back my car up, he asks me to back up one more space for him. Feeling kind, I say ok, back up, he gets out with his delighted little daughter and they walk off hand in hand. SO cute and I feel good to have helped a little. Then I look more closely at my own spot and see one of those pesky construction signs. And then realize they line the whole street, except for the space I just gave to the man and his daughter. Ooh. So I am back in my car driving around for spots, starting to second guess my overly confident self that maybe I should have just taken the train, when AHA! parking at the corner of Clarendon and Newbury. Hooray! Such a pleasant and friendly morning on the streets of Boston :)