Nostalgia:

He had driven to a small town in the north country that possessed some nostalgia for him. His family, once upon a time, had a retreat home in this town. And now, many years after, he was returning to see the town, how it had changed, how it had stayed the same. He was certain that the people of this town, even those he had known wouldn’t recognize him, since his family had sold the retreat house when he was still young. But, so many good, loving memories filled his imagination as he pondered over the location. And so, he had driven three hours north to get there. And when he arrived, he drove to familiar areas. He drove past the cottage his family had owned. He drove past friend’s homes and beaches where he had gone swimming. Something in his heart was guiding him. And even when he drove deeper than the areas he recognized, he still found his mind very active. New memories inspired as he drove around, experiences he had no idea he’d had but that he would swear on now as his mind reminded him. And so, he found himself now driving along a long and straight road. It was snowy outside and there were deep beds of snow in the ditches along the side of the road. Caught up in blissful awareness, his hand moved toward the radio and his eyes followed. When he looked up, he was driving straight into the snow-filled ditch. He had only enough time to apply pressure to the brakes and the next thing he knew the car came to an abrupt halt as it caught up in the snowy bank. Looking down, he inspected his body. And after ensuring he was alright, he tried to put the car in reverse. Applying some gas, the tires simply sped in their place in the snowy bank. The car wasn’t going anywhere. He opened the car door. He was shaky on his feet as he stood. And standing in a deep bunch of snow, he saw a car coming down the road. He waved it down but they would not stop. He was sad and worried. And returning to inspect his car, he noticed that nothing seemed to be damaged. He was thankful for this but the front end of the car was under a foot of snow. He returned to the street and as another car passed, he waved it down. The car slowed and the window opened. A man’s smiling face appeared in the car, behind the lowered window. “What happened?” He asked. And telling him the truth, the man in the car looked saddened and said, “Just wait here. I’ll be right back.” He thought about what had been said as the car sped off down the street and turned left into a side street. He continued to watch the roads as the sun was falling deeper and deeper in the sky. He waited for ten minutes when he turned around in the driver’s seat of the car and saw a flatbed tow truck coming towards him. He got out of the car again and stood nearer the road. When the tow truck came to a stop, the man who was driving the car that had stopped earlier got out and came towards him. “Told you I’d be back,” he said loudly. The man grabbed a cable from the back of the flatbed and drew it out so that the cable was lax on the ground. And then attaching the end of the cable under the bumper of his car, he returned to the driver’s seat of the truck. Hearing a hydraulic hissing start, he moved back a bit and watched with gratitude as his car was pulled out of the snow. Until his car was settled onto the road once again. Stepping out of his truck again, he approached him and smiled. “Thank you so much!” He said, “What do I owe you?” The driver smiled again and said, “You don’t owe me a thing. It was a good deed, my friend. Take care and drive safely.” And with that, he walked back to his truck and drove away. - From my Book Fables of Good Will.