Saturday Night at the Gas Station

It's around 2am. I'm at Emeryville getting gas after leaving the clubs. I notice this older lady (mid-late 40s?) drives up behind my car, but ignore her and go about my business.

A few minutes later, she walks up to me, and says in a timid voice, excuse me, but I think I lost my wallet and I need a gallon of gas to get back home. She was basically asking me to buy her a gallon of gas.

I remember thinking, I'm having a shitty time now cos my date flaked, so I might as well make sure this lady here doesn't have bad day. I give her a 10. She says she only needs a couple of gallons, and offers to get my address so she can return me the money. I smile and tell her not to worry about it, go home, enjoy the rest of your weekend. She was visibly moved, and gave me a warm hug. For some reason, I'm intensely touched by it. We chat a little. I tell her I'm having a bad evening and I want her to have a good evening. She tells me some stuff about her life. As she leaves, she gives me another hug. Oddly, as I drive out of the gas station, I recall what Ross Jeffries writes about leaving her better than you found her...

Two strangers bonding for a moment at the gas station in the middle of the night. How strange is that. I felt like for a brief moment, I had made a positive impact on someone's life. And it was a great feeling!

Update 10/18: Dad added a comment, and I just had to post it out here for everyone to see cos he really puts it very eloquently:

Life has its twists and turns, and just as you thought the world was crashing down on you, you realised that you, in your own moments of frustrations and helplessness, could actually turn out to be an inspiration and a beacon of light in the dark nights of some one else, and in so enlightening this other person, you have lifted her and yourself to a higher level of appreciation of the simple and good things that life has to offer, and it only costs you? $10!

Come to think of it, I was probably influenced by his earlier actions.