Lost motorist thanks locals for help

Dear editor,

I was wondering if you might be able to print this letter in your paper please. It would mean a lot to me if I could have this message passed along. This is a true story.

My name is Stephanie. I live in Georgetown Ontario (a town about 40 minutes west of Toronto). On Sunday April 28th, I attended a bridal shower in Innisfil.

I left extra early that morning to accommodate the time it would take me to get lost, figure out I had gotten lost, and then retrace my steps and try to correct the problem. With my mapquest directions in hand, I set off for Innisfil. The mapquest directions told me to take highway 89 toward Cookstown/Alliston. And so I did.

About 15 minutes down the road, I realized that none of the streets I needed to find had appeared. I started to panic and pulled into a random Petro Canada at the side of the road. The woman behind the counter, although attempting to be helpful, reached for a phone book when I asked for her help. As I was standing in the Petro, close to having a Jerry MacGuire freak-out in front of the few strangers that might have wandered in, probably one of the nicest guys I have ever met in my life walked in. I'm not sure if he came in to pay for gas, or what he was doing in there-I was in such a terrible state of frazzledness that I really am not sure how I even managed to coherently communicate at this point. I do know that I turned to him, asked him if he was from around the area and then spewed my horrible story about how I had the shower to go to, mapquest had screwed me over, and I was hopelessly lost in a gas station somewhere with no idea how to get where I needed to be.

I followed him out to the parking lot where his friend was waiting in the car. His friend got out, drew me a map on my invitation and then told me how to get where I needed to go. I think I must have looked like a deer staring into headlights because after he tried to explain it to me again, he decided it would be easier for him to drive there and me to follow!

Now, coming from a town close to Toronto, the first thought that should have popped into my head was "I'm never going make it home". But what I really thought was, "these guys seemed so nice and really, what's the worst that could happen? I could end up lost...oh wait, I already was". So after being reassured that it really was no trouble and he lived around fourth line anyway, I hopped in my car and followed his green (monte carlo?) in the direction of 7th Line (or so I hoped). I followed this green car, with two very nice guys in it blindly passing roads I had never heard of, when suddenly it occurred to me that I was actually going to make it to the shower, and on time at that. 7th Line approached, the green car pulled over, I pulled up next to them and thanked (Jake? and his friend). I was actually more grateful than I think they realized.

As I pulled off down the street, I saw the green car turn around and head back to where it came from. I got to the shower and told my story about the two nicest guys ever that I had met at the Petro. No one there seemed surprised about my story.

They said that was the kind of people you meet around there.

Well, let me tell you-that is not the kind of people you meet around my area. My family was shocked that I had followed these guys so trustingly. They were surprised that I hadn't ended up in a ditch somewhere. These guys were so nice that the thought never even crossed my mind.

The thing that has stuck with me, though, is the fact that even though I did say thank you, I really want these guys to know how much their kind gesture meant to me.

Kindness like that is most often taken for granted. But I would really like these guys to know that they are still in my thoughts and I genuinely appreciate the help they gave me on Saturday.

The whole way home as I drove from Innisfil back to Georgetown, I regretted not saying something more or giving them something... anything. If they read this letter, or someone they know reads it and tells them about it, that would at least let them know that their gesture was truly appreciated.

I am still telling people about the guys I met in Innisfil.

So, if my friends from Innisfil read this letter, please know that the girl with the pony-tails from obviously not anywhere around Innisfil is totally grateful for your help and really truly thanks you.

Sincerely, Stephanie McLean