ALAS! Chivalry is not dead...

It may just be hibernating for some people! So, we knew it was true that we could not get through the month of February without some type of snow storm. And yes, in Chicago, it did hit with a vengeance on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. In the city, I believe we got at least a foot of snow, if not more. And yes, I know, it is SUBSTANTIALLY less than what our friends on the East Coast have received...70 inches, but it was enough to make driving a pain in the bootie.

So yesterday, I had to teach an early class, knowing that my car is HORRIBLE and yes I do mean REAR WHEEL DRIVE HORRIBLE in the snow, I went out the night before to shovel and clean my car off, thinking this would help me in the AM. NOT! We got another 6-8 inches overnight, so I took another 20 minutes to shovel and clean off my car. I got settled into the vehicle and basically pulled forward and got my car stuck, I mean it was not going anywhere in the snow. SO, my downstairs neighbor was walking his dogs, and offered to push me. He was working so hard to me out. And then another man came out of his building, dressed for work and started to help as well. These poor men worked their butts off to get my STOOPID car out of the alley. It took two guys, three of us shoveling and backing down the alley to get my car out. WOW! I was amazed at how generous these men were in helping me. They were so determined, I was ready to give up...but the guys says NO, we will get you out. I did email and thank my downstairs neighbor, but I don't know who else helped me, so DUDE living two buildings over...THANK YOU!

PART DEUX...last night, I was going to have dinner with some friends in the burbs and the same EXACT thing happened. Tires are spinning, blah, blah...this man comes out of his condo basically hunched over because his back hurt so bad from shoveling his parking lot, but still offers to help me. While he is inside getting salt, another neighbor, a female, goes to get her shovel offering to help. My poor hunched over neighbor puts the salt under my tires and pushes me out. LORD HAVE MERCY! So once again, THANK YOU TO MY NEIGHBORS, I don't know your names, but bless you for helping me.

You know living in a city the size of Chicago, many times people like to remain anonymous, they go about their business, don't make personal connections and don't offer to help when needed. I was so pleased and felt so blessed to know that my neighbors were willing to help me out of a tough spot yesterday. And not just the guys, because I know you gentlemen sometimes still like to help the SINGLE damsel in distress. But the woman in the next building could have simply gone into her condo without offering to help.

In today's age of social networking, emailing, texting...on and on, as I have said in previous blog posts, we are creating humans that don't know how to connect with other each. It was such a nice departure yesterday to see people helping others out! So ladies and gentlemen seriously, pay it forward, help someone out, even if it is as small as holding the door open for someone or letting someone cut in line at the grocery store who has 2 items and you have 200 or as big as throwing out your back to push someone's car out! Seems pretty classy to me!

Cheers and CIAO BELLAS!