By FRED KRONER
Two days before the official arrival of Thanksgiving 2020, Marsha (Primmer) Neitzel found more reasons to be thankful.
It’s because of the people.
Kind people.
Caring people.
Considerate people.
Compassionate people.
People whose names she doesn’t even know.
People whom she might never see again.
People who entered her world ever-so-briefly on a cloudy November day.
Neitzel’s Tuesday didn’t start out with promising overtones even though, she said, “I woke determined to make this a good day.”
As the morning progressed, so did a headache.
The news Neitzel received thereafter began to pile up in mounds and didn’t do anything to alleviate the pain.
“I got some very sad news about a young couple who lost their new baby,” she said. “One of my friends has her life partner in ICU and she can’t even visit him.
“Then I heard that one of my relatives hasn’t been well and was going to get a COVID test. He was afraid to get the results. And, I have a dear friend who lives on her own and is struggling to cope with the isolation.”
Neitzel decided Tuesday wasn’t the day to sit back, but a day to take action and “do something positive,” she said.
Her headache was improving, and so was her outlook as she left her Rantoul residence and headed for her hometown, Mahomet.
“I packed up a book to take to my relative that I knew he would enjoy,” she said. “Then I planned to take a treat to my lonely friend and play a couple of board games.”
What is it that Murphy’s Law says, if something can go wrong, it will?
Neitzel was about to experience that axiom first-hand.
“I drove about 15 miles and was a couple miles from my first destination, and my car just stopped,” Neitzel said. “It wouldn’t start and I was sitting in front of a long line of cars waiting to get around me.”
She was stranded on Prairieview Road, near the Interstate-74 exit.
“My stress level skyrocketed and my headache rebounded,” Neitzel said. “I tried to wave people around my car.
“A very nice young man in a car just behind me came up and asked if he could help.”
As Neitzel remained in her car, the Good Samaritan pushed the car out of the way of traffic.
“It wasn’t easy, but we did it … barely,” Neitzel said. “I was very grateful to him.”
She then used her cell phone to call AAA and arrange for a tow truck, which she was told could be at her location within 30 minutes.
In the moment, the wait time seemed like an eternity.
“In the meantime, I got a lot of unfriendly glares from drivers going around me,” Neitzel said, “and it was cold in my car.”
She soon had her faith in humanity restored.
“My bad day took an amazing turn,” Neitzel said. “Everyone I spoke to on the phone, AAA, Tatman’s Towing and Beaumont Tire and Auto Service, were amazingly sympathetic, friendly and helpful.
“I felt much better. Then, upwards of 10 different individuals stopped to ask if I was OK while I was sitting in my car. I felt blessed by the caring and kindness from all these people.”
She didn’t get names, making it impossible to issue thank-yous to the specific deserving individuals.
“But I want to thank all these people and let them know what their kindness meant to me,” Neitzel said. “For someone whose car is in the shop for who-knows-what, I’m smiling still because of these thoughtful people.
“I just want people to know how much kindness to a stranger can mean.”
Sharing her day with the media provided an ideal outlet for Neitzel to get her message out that the spirit of Thanksgiving is alive and well and thriving, even in the coronavirus-stricken year of 2020.
Her next wish may take a bit more time.
“Let’s hope for vaccines soon and getting back together again,” said Neitzel, who hasn’t been able to hug her mother in more than eight months.
Her mother, Thelma, is in assisted living in Gibson City.
“We can’t see Mom except waving to her in her bedroom window,” Neitzel said. “She is in good hands and feels loved by the staff there, so she is doing as well as can be expected.”
After what could have been a disastrous day on Tuesday, Neitzel can say the same thing.
“I had a day that could have sent me spiraling downward from already being self-depressed from all the events in 2020,” she said.
Instead, Neitzel was uplifted by the random acts of kindness bestowed upon her. This is the kind of message of Thanksgiving that is needed in 2020, and it arrived in the nick of time.
