the kindness of strangers

while at the hurricanes game on thursday night, eric staal scored a hat trick. now, i’ve always wanted to throw a hat on to the ice. this night was perfect. i had gotten a free hat because it was a ‘free hat’ giveway night at the arena. sure, it was a great hat, but i don’t wear hats. i think i look stupid in them. plus, keith got one. we don’t need two.
so when staal scored, i happily threw my hat toward the ice! i was very excited. like i said in my previous blog, there at least 5000 hats on the ice. well, when the arena gives away 14,000....what would you expect?

anyway, we watched them spend a good five minutes sweeping hats off the ice. keith and i talked about what exactly will they do with all of those hats? after the games we always kind of hang out to let traffic die down. so we were watching the guys clean up the ice afterward and what do you know....they had all those hats! so, i was like "let's just ask them if i could get my hat back." i mean, what did they want with the hats? throw them away? they can't sell them. so we asked one of the guys coming of the ice with a trash bag of hats if i could get my hat back since i threw it on the ice. he replies, "no i can't give you your hat back." he said it the way a dickhead would say it. it wasn't nice. it was rude. and mean. and it was like he said no just because he could. there is no good way to convey the way that he what he said, but you get it.

this immediately hurt my feelings. like keith said "i am too sweet for my own good." i mean, i was totally crushed at the unkindness of this individual. he had no use for the hats. neither does the organization. and i bet there is a way for me to get the hat back....so why didn't he just say that instead of being a big huge penis?

i hate to even admit this, but i started crying. i mean, i was really upset. over a hat i didn't even want in the first place. but it was no longer about the hat. it was about the unjustness of the situation. we walked up the stairs, i am biting my lip, hard, the entire way in order to hold in my tears. i was just trying to make it to the ladies room to cry it out in the stall for a minute. over a hat.

while i was in the bathroom, keith saw a couple with 5 or 6 of the free hats. i guess this man had just collected a bunch of the hats that people were throwing down towards the ice. smart man. keith goes over to them and explains that his girlfriend (me) is very upset that threw my hat on the ice and asked the ice crewman for it back and he wouldn't. and keith asked the man for one of his hats. they gave keith a hat out of the kindness of their hearts.

i came out of the bathroom. finally. all red faced with red, watery eyes. my attempt to splash cold water on my face to cool it down did no good. i walked up to keith and he hands me a hat. i asked him where he got it from and he pointed at the nice couple he was talking to. i thanked them profusely. and of course, their act of kindness made me cry more. i am such a woman sometimes.

but this simple act of kindness melted my heart. that is all it takes. simple random acts of kindness. the world needs more of that. to cancel out the bad.

so, thank you wonderful boyfriend for seeking out strangers to help make me feel better :o) and thank you strangers for being receptive and giving away one of your hats to undo the wrongs of another individual.