Pay it forward: Southern style

Some things never change, and the fact that life speeds up into a kaleidoscope of students, papers, grades, research, panel discussions and meetings after midterms is one of those things. Add to that the fact that I think I'm currently suffering from the accumulated fatigue of four years of working my butt off (if I'm not asleep at my desk, I will write more about that this week), and you can imagine that I'm not exactly dancing and singing my way through life right now. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy and generally content with life as a whole, I'm just about as sluggish as an entire sorority after rush. I forget to take the right binder to class, have still not been able to remember half my new students' names, and I'm pretty sure neglected to take care of several things I've simply forgotten about.

Believe me or not, however, there is no better place to live at a time like this than the south. If you're ever tired, overworked, or forgetful, I highly recommend you move to Georgia, as everyone here is always nice, but especially when you're obviously struggling with daily life, such as the need to stay awake and get your work done.

Take this week, for instance. It's only Tuesday, but I can already think of three occasions where people I barely (or in one case did not) know went out of their way to make my life easier.

Case #1: I needed to walk a form to an office all the way across campus, and halfway there realized I had filled out the form wrong. Grumbling about the fact that I was wearing high heels, and now needed to trot about a mile and a half back to my office,  and was obviously an idiot for not checking the form properly before I left my office, I turned around. Five steps later, a lady who worked with us on our self-study last year pulled up in a golf cart and asked me if I needed a ride to my building. Delighted, I accepted. She dropped me off at my building, and then turned around.
"Don't you need to be here?" I asked
"Oh no, " She said, "I need to be on the south (read: completely other side of campus) side, but I thought I would give you a ride"
Now that's just nice.

Case #2: I've been "borrowing" a cup of coffee from the secretaries down the hall every once in a while. Their office is not in our department, but they're the closest office with a coffeemaker, and in return for my bringing in a bag of coffee once a semester, they let me drink their coffee. Yesterday, after I hadn't been in to get coffee for about a week (too busy to make the trek down the hallway), one of the secretaries emailed me, "Hey, haven't seen you in a while, but wanted to let you know that we brewed a pot of that gourmet coffee you brought in, and we're saving a cup for you."
People, that almost made me cry, that's just so nice.

Case #3: This morning, about ten minutes before class was about to start, I realized I had left something in my car. I rushed down the stairs, towards the front door, when I realized it was pouring down rain, and my umbrella was upstairs in my office. Well crap. I turned around, saw an open office door, and poked my head in:
"Hi. I know you don't know me, but I need to run out to my car, and it's raining, can I borrow someone's umbrella?"
"Of course!"
Not only did the lady behind the desk loan me her umbrella, when I came back in with a armload full of books, she held the door open for me, took the umbrella out of my clumsy hands, and waved my thanks away.
I'm telling you, that woman deserves a medal.

Now you'll have to excuse me while I try to go and catch up on my sleep.