Tuesday morning (I think) I started down the road to work and realized that I needed gas.  After fueling, I used a couple of back roads so that I could catch all the right lights.  As my car idled at a stop sign, I heard what sounded like a flat tire rolling down the road.  (you know, the flop-flop-flop-flop sound.) Sure enough, just off to the side, a car was pulling over.  A young-ish lady stepped out, inspected her tires, and threw her hands up.

Normally, I try not to judge people by what I see, but my observation skills went into overdrive.  The lady was reaching for her young boy in the back seat and not a cell phone.  The car was at least 10-15 years old and her clothes indicated that she wouldn’t be going into the office today.  (is that a nice way of putting it?)  It looked like they were about to go find a phone or help.  My initial assessment was that this lady wasn’t well off and that she probably wouldn’t be getting any help in the next few minutes. I drove over, let them use my phone, and ended up helping put the spare tire on.

footballFor the little boy, this seemed to be more of an adventure than a trouble.  He stuck his head out the window and when he felt a rain drop, he informed me that his dad can’t work when it rains.  His mother felt the need to explain that the father is a painter…and he gets paid under the table…and they’re separated, and her brother is off work today but wasn’t answering his phone which means that he’s probably at the neighbor’s house so she tried calling her mom whom she lives with now but her mom didn’t answer but it didn’t matter if she could because she has trouble getting around.  I nodded as well as I could while getting my hands dirty.

After I learned more about the family (and its various extensions), the spare tire was put in-place and I advised the woman to drive slowly until the original tire was replaced and installed.  I thought about giving them some money to help with the repair, but I never have cash.  Then I thought that maybe I could just give her my business card and have the service company call me and I’d take care of it…but I couldn’t figure out how to do that without seeming like a pervert or some guy who was trying to pick up any woman on the side of the road that he could.  Not to mention, up to this point, I still maintained my anonymity.  One of the neat things about being a good Samaritan is that they don’t have a clue who I am.  It helps a little with the “pass it on” concept.

footballI ended up just bidding them farewell and went on my way as a nameless guy who happened along.  I’d even forgotten about the whole thing…right up until this morning. (REMINDER HERE)  It appears as though Tony Romo (if you don’t know who he is then it won’t matter to you) stopped and helped some people change a tire.  During the process, the motorists recognized him and celebrated accordingly.  I wondered for a second why the lady I helped didn’t recognize me for my world-famous design skills, but apparently she’s not one of my 5 loyal blog readers.  (Lucky her)

And then it hit me.  In the grand scheme of the universe, this all fits together.  This happened all for a reason.  It happened to teach me (and all of you, too) that I am just like Tony Romo!  He helps people, I help people.  Romo is a superstar, I’m a superhero.  He’s the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, I played quarterback for a flag-football team in college.  His team made the playoffs under his leadership, my team made it to the playoffs after I was taken off the field due to an injury.  He’s making millions of dollars doing what he loves, I’m making some money and I love my wife.  See, we’re virtually indistinguishable.

If any of you would like my autograph, I’ll be more than happy to oblige.