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It all started at the Octopus Car Wash......

3/31/2013

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It was Easter morning.  The husband and wife had attended a sunrise service and held hands while everyone worshipped and sang song songs of praise.
Afterwards, he said, "Let's go by the car wash before we go out for brunch."  Feeling particularly amenable even though her stomach was growling, she said, "Sure."  
As soon as they pulled in to the car wash, the attendant waved and said, "We'll be with you in just a minute.  We're still getting set up."  No problem, they waved back.  As the husband and wife cleaned out the gum wrappers and old gas receipts (sorry, Zev Edelman, they were thrown away----you can't collect them), they were both jolted upright by a "THWUMP!" "What was that?" she asked.  They turned around to see a minivan way too close to their rear windshield.  Oh no!  A fender-bender in the car wash line.  
The husband and wife jumped out.
"Let me see if it's okay", the husband said of his sports car/baby.
"Let me see if he's okay", the wife said of the man in the now-too-close-to-the-sports-car minivan.  

When the man got out of his minivan, he put up his hands in an immediately apologetic stance.  "I am so sorry! I leaned over to reach for something and I lost my footing."  
"No worries," the husband and wife said in unison.  "Are you okay?"  
I'm find" said the man, who was dressed nicely with a cap on his head. 

Just then, a car wash attendant walked over and said, "Let me see if I can buff that out. It might not be a deep scratch." The man in the cap got out his insurance card and said, "Take my information---I feel badly about this." 
The husband and wife told him it was no big deal and thanked the attendant for being so attentive.

As the cars were taken back to be washed, another gentlemen who had witnessed the whole thing walked over to the husband and wife, who thought he was going to offer to be a witness if necessary.  Instead, he took the husband's car wash receipt and said, "This is taken care of----you don't need to pay today. It's nice to see people handle things the way you did."  He did the same for the man in the minivan.  
After a series of "thank yous", the minivan man and the couple sat on a bench waiting for the car washes to finish.  The wife said, "I see you are wearing a Vietnam Vet hat.  Did you serve in the war?" The gentleman's face clouded and he answered, "I did. It was pretty rough.  I was there for 4 1/2 years and I'm still dealing with stuff from that war.  They call it PTSD, you know."  They talked for a few minutes and the man continued to share some stories of war and of healing.  The cars were finished being washed too quickly, and it was time for goodbyes.  The man in the hat shook the husband's hand and said, "Thank you for being such a good man".  The wife hugged the Veteran and said, "God bless You and we will pray for you and your continued healing."  The man said, "You don't know what that means to me."

As the wife made her way to the car, she watched as her dear husband handed a very nice tip to one of the car wash attendants, then to another, then to another, then to another.  

As they drove away, the husband and wife watched as the attendants high-fived each other and celebrated their Easter tips.  They trotted away to greet the next customer.  I'll bet that customer got the special treatment.

What if the wave of goodness that happened to us this morning continued to wave through Tucson and to other cities and states and to other folks in other countries?  What a wonderful world it would be.
And to think it all started at the Octopus Car Wash......or perhaps not.


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