A True Story

Wanna know why we're moving to Denver? The following story might give a little insight.

On our first trip to Denver last fall, we were completely unfamiliar with the city, and didn't have the luxury of a GPS. Normally I can find my way around pretty well with a plain old street map. But the Denver metro is so large that the map sprawled halfway across the car when we opened it.

We ventured downtown one afternoon and had to be back to Arvada by a certain time. We ate dinner at P.F. Changs, and when we found our way back to the car, it was dusk.

Downtown Denver, as you may already know, is set cattywampus to the rest of town, so I hadn't driven us very far before getting disoriented and frustrated. We stopped at a traffic signal, and I pulled out the map and hurriedly tried to find our location in the dim light before the signal changed.

Then FilmGuy spoke up from the back seat: "Hey, I think that guy wants you to talk to you."

In the lane to our right, a young guy had pulled up next to us and was gesturing for us to roll down the window. Now, where we come from, that kind of behavior would make us a little suspicious or even concerned for our safety, because it just isn't done. But he had a pleasant enough face. We rolled down the window.

"Hey, are you guys lost? Do you need directions someplace?"

"Yes," I replied, shouting across WildChild through the passenger side window. "We need to get to West 80th."

"You want to get on Federal," he replied. "You need to turn right here at this intersection, and a left turn over there on ****** (I can't remember the street he said.) That will take you right to Federal."

"Thanks!" we said.

But he wasn't done helping us. We needed to make a right turn, and we were in the left lane. So he said:

"Tell you what. Pull over right in front of me here when the light changes, so you can make the turn. I'll stay put until you get over."

Now, if you're from Denver, you might be used to this kind of thing. We'd been told by all the travel sites that Denver people were friendlier than most, and more apt to talk to you. But we weren't used to this, not by a long shot. This guy wasn't just friendly; he was aware. In the dusk, he saw through our car windows and noticed us wrestling with the map--and took action to help us.

When the light changed, we pulled in front of him, and turned the corner...and just about cried. I'm not the kind of guy who is above asking for directions, but I was flabbergasted that someone in another car would offer them, and then make room for us.

This wasn't the only example of Denver niceness we encountered; we found the people in general to be as friendly as the travel sites said they were. I'm sure for the guy in the other car, what he did was just common decency. But he will probably never know how much his actions influenced us as we considered making Denver our new home.

Simple acts of kindness don't cost us much...but they can go a long way, can't they?