I thought I was "paying it forward" but I was the one receiving the blessings this New Year's Day!

I had an interesting start to the New Year.

We spent New Year's Eve much as we usually do. Hanging out with friend's at a friend's house on Tee Lake. For those of you familiar with Mason County, you know that Tee Lake is up on the Tahuya Plateau. We tease our friends who live up there that they live in a snow vortex. It seems that if the lowlands get an inch, Tee Lake gets 5. And if it's raining in Belfair, it's snowing at Tee Lake. This held true on New Year's Eve.

While there was still a large quantity of snow on the ground, there was no snow in the forecast. We should have known that that didn't matter, we were going to Tee Lake after all.

We arrived at their home around 8 o'clock in the evening. We began our merriment with good food, great wine and even better company. We lit fireworks, played some Wii and danced 2008 away.

The snow started about 10:30pm. A nice, light powdery snow at first. Just barely dusting the decks and freshly cleared walkways. After toasting in the New Year, we noticed the ground was covered. When I finally retired to sleep in the guest bedroom at about 2:30 in the morning, I just stared out the window at the huge flakes tumbling to the ground - and groaned. I was not looking forward to dealing with the snow in the morning.

Fast-forward to 7:30 in the morning when I awoke to look out at the near 6" of snow covering the ground. My truck, which arrived completely clear of snow - covered. The roads that were bare and dry - covered. The walkways that were just showing a dusting the night before - covered!

So, we trekked through the piles of snow and brushed the accumulation off the windshield and climbed into the truck. We started our drive out to the main road, only to be met by a car stuck and vacant in the middle of the road. There was no way around! So, we backed up (yeah, that was fun) and turned around and went the long way around the lake, where we ran into another car stuck in the snow. This one was NOT vacant. A family was inside, a family that included an 18 month old baby. As it turns out, they had been stuck in the snow since about 1:30am, and were forced to sleep in their car. And after running the engine all night long trying to keep themselves warm, they had run out of gas. Being a parent myself, my heart absolutely broke for them. We loaded them up in our rig and headed down the road to take them to the home of someone they knew, as their own home was way off the grid and inaccessible.

During our trip back down into town, we spent sometime getting to know our new friends. They were down on their luck, but a loving and grateful family. They didn't have much. Lived simply as they put it. But they made the best of what they had. They loved each other very much, and were extremely grateful for what they had. They didn't complain. Not about their car getting stuck in the snow. Not about running out of gas. Not about not having enough diapers for their young boy. Not about being wet from shoveling snow all night long trying to free the car from its snowing entrapment. Not about being unsure of where they were going to stay for the next few days or how they'd deal with the car still stuck in the snow. They were grateful that we came along after only 6 hours. They were grateful they had gone to the grocery store that evening and had milk for the baby. They were grateful that they had friends in Belfair that had a spare room and told them to come on over.

We treated them to breakfast. We bought diapers and wipes for their baby. We gave them the cash we had on hand, and we thought we walked away receiving the best gift for the New Year - a refreshing new attitude on life.

I hope for the best for our new friends. I hope they receive the blessings that they so richly deserve. I wish them luck - and I thank them for what they gave to me and my husband. We thought we were paying it forward, but we learned that we were the ones receiving the blessings on New Year's Day!