PEOPLE ARE NICE!

Sadly, the phrase "I hate people" has come out of my mouth several times.  It seems like every time I turn around, someone is doing something hateful or stupid.  Now, that's not to say that the world isn't full of really amazing, wonderful people- but I guess it's easier to spot the not so amazing and wonderful ones.  Our little spontaneous trip to D.C. has renewed my faith in the goodness of the human race as a whole.  The whole Easter Egg Roll- waiting in line thing- is all very confusing.  The actual event takes place on Monday March 24th, from 8am to 2pm.  They had out the bulk of the tickets Saturday morning.  So at 2:30 Saturday morn., Dale went to get in line.  He wasn't able to get tickets.  People had been in line since Thursday night.  We later heard that they give out a couple hundred more tickets early Monday morning before the event. So Easter Sunday morning we went and got in line.  (we weren't taking any chances.)
This time we were number 5!!!  We were getting tickets for sure.  We would just have to sit there for 24 hours.  Yuck!  As we sat- we talked to our neighbors, and watched our kids play between the Washington Memorial, and the white house.  It was so fun!  The people were so nice!  
At about 6 pm, Dale and the girls were taking a bathroom break.  While they were gone, the man in this picture approached me.  He was acting a little strange, and talking quietly.  He asked if we knew that we would have to sit there all night.  I said yes.  I wasn't entirely friendly either, because I thought he was a little strange.  I also thought that he was trying to weasel his way into my primo spot.  He went and talked to his family, then headed back in my direction. All I could think was how I was going to get him to go away.  I think I was dealing with him much like I deal with solicitors.  (I'm not kidding- they call my house 10 times a day about Dale's student loans.)  I wasn't mean- but I didn't go out of my way to be friendly either.  I told him that I was sorry, but if he wanted to cut in line- the people behind me would murder me. He said that was not his intention- he had tickets for us.  Then I understood.  The tickets to the Easter Egg Roll were free, and some people who had gotten them, where trying to sell them for RIDICULOUS prices.  So I told him that I wasn't going to buy his tickets.  But despite my rather cold deminer- he continued trying to talk to me.  He said, "no i'm trying to GIVE you tickets." 

I couldn't figure out what the scam was.  His family was with him and they kept telling me it was for real.  They had been walking up and down the line of people trying to decide who they wanted to give there extra tickets too.  They decided that they wanted to give them to me. (I'm sure the cute baby helped!)  I was still skeptical, so when I saw an older women standing off to the side, I asked who she was. They said it was their grandma, so I went to talk to her.  Turns out- they were just a nice baptist family, trying to do a nice thing.  They wanted to give the tickets to someone who would appreciate them.  They picked the right person!  I was so grateful.  It wasn't just the tickets to a coveted event- but the reminder that people are good. Because of my new Baptist friends- Dale got to spend Easter evening with us, visiting the amazing memorials.