i still heart america.

In light of the olympics, and the oh, so new found Canadian pride, I thought I’d repost this. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE CANADA. But during the olympics I found myself getting mad at America for winning so many medals, and found myself nodding in agreement with those who would trash talk our southern neighbours. I wrote this on fb in July and thought you might enjoy it… 

Oh America, I’ve been so wrong.
I’ve judged you, and I am ever so sorry.

I felt that I had to make my apology public and share this tale of pure kindness.

Three young women (me being one) left Vancouver very early on Saturday morning to venture into the great shopping of the U S of A. After visiting a few outlets and feeding Visa at Forever 21 (she was very hungry) we started to make the drive back to dear old Canada. We had a few stops on our way back. Three stops at three Targets to be exact. (I finally found the bikini from the Nylon ad!)
My coolant light suddenly appeared as we exited the third Target.
Knowing we worked my little Cabrio hard that day and knowing there is a leak in my radiator, I thought we should probably stop at the nearest gas station and fill up on coolant.
Back on the I-5 we went. (Which is a great joy to all drivers, because people actually know how to drive.)
We spotted a sign for gas, so we took the first exit.

We arrived around 7pm, most definitely haggered from a long day of border waiting and shopping but that did not affect the great kindness we received.

As we entered the Shell gas station, we were immediately greeted by the gas attendant (he was standing by the door), “Hello girls, how can I help you today?”

Shock, was the first emotion I felt as never in my twenty-two years on this planet had I ever been greeted by a gas station attendant.
I replied with, “Coolant.”
He then escorted us to the back aisle warning us it was pretty pricey.
I was relieved when i saw the $9.32 price tag. (Pricey in my mind was maybe $40?)

Before purchasing he wanted to make sure my engine hadn’t over heated so he walked with me to my car. I popped the hood and we started to examine my engine. At that time, another American with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth came over and asked what was wrong. He started squeezing some sort of tubing in the engine. Both of the men praised me for catching the problem quick and agreed I only needed to fill the radiator with the coolant.

So back into the gas station I go. The three of us girls had $14.52 US dollars left and wanted to spend it all. I was quite excited to purchase a Butterfinger Crisp. Hailey grabbed a Big Hunk for her big hunk. To the counter we went. But soon Hailey was distracted by the amazing flavors of Orbit gum. “Ohhhhh Mint Mojito! Look, they have Sangria gum!!” Obviously we had to add those to the lot.
Our total rang up at $15.02.

We spent a few minutes digging through our wallets, and pockets not noticing the long line forming behind us. The gas attendant told us we could give him Canadian quarters but then suddenly a US 1 dollar bill appears to our left. We turned around to see the man behind us handing the gas attendant the rest of our bill. We thanked him and gave him the 50cents change and grabbed our coolant, gum and chocolate.

I unscrewed the cap and started pouring the coolant into the radiator when all of a sudden a young guy starts running toward my car screaming “FUNNEL!! YOU NEED A FUNNEL!!” At the same time, the gas attendant was furiously knocking on the window screaming the same thing. The young guy let us borrow his funnel and we proceeded to fill the radiator. Just as it was almost to the fill line, another American drove by us and asked if we needed any help. We politely declined as my dear Cabrio seemed good to go. I returned the funnel to the nice young guy and waved to the gas attendant.

We left that shell gas station, hearts sparkling with joy.
Who knew three young girls in a red convertible would receive so much kindness from so many strangers.

Oh America, I really do love you.

Even though I really love America, I REALLY loved when my future husband scored that winning goal on Sunday.

Until next time,

s.s.♥.