A helping hand

Growing up, both the National Geographic and the Reader's Digest were staples in my home. I looked at the pictures in the NG (much as you would in Playboy), but in general considered the articles too long. The opposite is true of the RD, whose purpose was 30 articles in 30 days or something like that. I didn't really care. I went for the jokes (much as you would in Playboy).

Some of the humor stuck with me and, lo and behold, I can actually put a piece of it to work today. I think the tale was listed under the "Humor in Uniform" column, but maybe not. A woman related the story of being very pregnant and attempting to cross a busy street against a strong wind. Suddenly she feels a hand at her back (this was the 60s and strangers might touch and no one yell harassment, remember?) and looking over her shoulder is a Naval officer propelling/guiding/steering her across the street. He says something clever about ships and wind and she records it for prosperity--and my young memory--in RD. And I think she would have been paid.

So today I'm leaving Target with a boxed card table tilted in my large cart. (Why a card table when I already have three, garnered over marriage and from closing the parental house? Well, it's a long story, but suffice it to say I succumbed to the Grandmother gene and bought a tent which fits on a card table for the granddaughter's birthday and they don't have a card table.) Back to the story: Me, large cart, unwieldy purchase, and very strong winds hitting me sideways. I quickly figure out that unless I want to be in the middle of the next parking lot, I'll get on the side of this thing and vector it across the lot.

Then, all of a sudden, still in high wind, I straighten out. I look over my shoulder and there he is, a tall, broad man unafraid to offer a helping hand. He has hold of my card table and says something clever, to the effect that I wasn't going to make it across without help. No lie; I would have, but it wouldn't have been fun. Now I handily made it to the car, he hefted it in, I said thank you, and my white knight disappeared into his truck.

Not clever enough to get me into RD, but I certainly appreciated it and the memory.