I was about eighteen or nineteen sitting in my dads car in the parking lot of a 7-11. It was a late Saturday morning and we were finishing up our errands.
Usually on this stop the Oldman gets the Sunday Tribune, a lottery ticket, a gallon of milk and a box of Entemann’s. Either a coffee cake or chocolate donuts.…. Oh yeah and a can of Kay-O often landed on my lap when he got into the car.
On this Saturday morning a family was parked next to us. The dad had a map unfolded over his steering wheel. My dad leaned over to the opened window and asked if they were lost.
The wife sitting between my dad and the map gazer snapped off, “yes we are, yes we are! My husband can’t find the Brookfield Zoo!”
The 7-11 we were at is the one on the northeast corner of DesPlaines and Roosevelt Road.
“Follow me…. I’ll take you to the zoo.” my dad replied to the aggravated lady and her befuddled husband.
The zoo wasn’t far from the 7-11, but it was in the opposite direction from our house. My Oldman put the groceries on the back seat, got into the car and told me we were going to the zoo.
We pulled out into traffic with the lost family in tow. The zoo was only five to ten minutes away. This won’t take long. We drive past the parking lot, my dad will point to the parking lot and we will drive away.
….That’s not how it worked though.
My dad pulls out his wallet as we get close to the zoo and he asks me to find the zoo pass. I’m thinking the zoo pass? We have a gallon of milk in the backseat, it’s a warm June day and the Oldman wants to go to the zoo?
We pull into the line for the zoo and the family is right behind us. My dad motioned to them to continue to follow.
We pull to the gate… my dad hands the zoo pass to the guard. Now you have to know Don Shepley. If he goes somewhere regularly people know him and love him. Well, he went to Brookfield Zoo regularly. It was his place to unwind…. The guard and my dad were familiar with each other.
My dad tells the guard, “see this poor bastard behind us? He’s lost, his wife is aggravated with him and his kids are all worked up.”
The guard leans out and looks at the minivan with out of state plates.
My dad continues, “I’d like to get them in and then Moose and I are going to pull right out.”
The guard realized my dad was being a Good Samaritan and waved the car in. He didn’t take my dad’s money or zoo passes. My dad pulled a quick u-turn, waved to the family and we pulled out of the zoo.
We just spent thirty minutes of our day to make a strangers day better.
“Son, someday you might be in that guys seat and you’ll need a helping hand.” Those words stuck with me from that day on.
An off course family from Iowa was sitting in a 7-11 parking lot feeling miserable one minute and then twenty minutes later a bearded guy in a Cadillac takes them to the zoo.
That was Don Shepley… that was an afternoon my dad planted a seed.
One of many he planted through the years.
You just never know how simple it is to make the world a little better. Take the extra twenty minutes to make the world better.
It’s week two of Six Nations. First match is at 8:15 and the second one at 10:45. Ireland and France are number one and number two in the world. So today’s game is bigger than anything the Chiefs and Eagles will do tomorrow. Go Ireland....
