"I've always relied on the kindness of strangers"

Today was the Draper, UT LDS Temple dedication. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to attend a satellite broadcast of the dedication in the Marriott Center on BYU campus. I was really excited to go so when I woke up from my Sunday nap at 2:30 I got ready quickly and ended up getting to the Marriott Center just before 3:00. Now I didn't have to be in my seat until 4:00 so I decided that I would hang out in my car for a little bit and read a Magazine article that I had started at home and brought with me. I put the car in park and switched off the engine but I left my keys in the ignition (I bet you already know where this one is going). After about ten minutes when more people started showing up in the parking lot I decided I should go in and get myself a good seat. So I got out of the car, remembering that I wasn't allowed to take my phone inside, I stored it in the door pocket as I was getting out. I hit the lock button and shut the door. I was walking away when I thought to myself, "My purse sure feels light for just missing me phone." That's when I stopped. I know right then that my keys were sitting in the ignition of my car. I walked back to the car to be certain and there they were just dangling there taunting me. Now this is the time I would normally freak out because I don't have my phone or my keys. Luckily I kept my cool, managing to laugh at myself a little instead of getting as stressed as I normally would.
Enter: Taylor. Right about this time a car pulls into the lot and parks just three stalls down from me. So naturally I go and ask if I can borrow his phone to call AAA and tell him that I've just locked myself out of my car. He seems sympathetic and obliges handing me his phone. I open it up, and after some difficulty distinguishing which are the querty keys and which are the numbers I dial the 1-800 number and patiently make my way through the automated instructions and find myself on hold. While I'm waiting for my "Valuable" phone call to be answered I start telling Taylor about how if I could get to my apartment I have a spare set of keys I could use. This is when he offers, "Do you want me to drive you back to your apartment?" Now, I know what all of you are thinking "DING, DING, DING, ALLERT, ALLERT, RUN AWAY" but even though somewhere in the back part of my brain (the part that was trained very well by my parents and just from growing up in L.A.) I was hearing the same alarm bells, something told me it would be fine to accept the ride. This is the moment the thought hits me: "Your roommates are all in Boise for the weekend. You deadbolted the door and night locked the ballcony door. There is no way you can get into your apartment." But I also remembered that there is usually someone in the office on weekends when it is closed to handle situations like this. So I explain all this to poor Taylor, who I am sure is thinking "what have I gotten myself into?" by now, hang up on the AAA operator who just picked up and he drives me down to my complex and lets me run into the office to get the keys to my apartment.
No one's there. That's right I've now been driven back to my complex by this very kind stranger for no good reason. I can't get into my appartment and therefore can't get my spare keys and am now back to square one where I'll have to call AAA and wait even longer now becasue I didn't just tell them to come help me in the first place. Taylor seems nonpulsed. He drives me back to the Marriott Center and Parks as close to my car as he can in the now filling up lot. On the drive I remembered that the police will come and slim jim your lock for free but I don't have the number to call and don't have my fancy phone to look it up! At this point I tell Taylor that we should just go in and get seats for the dedication and I'll just deal with all of this afterwards. He agrees and walks with me into the building where we run smack dab into a BYU police officer. I tell him what's happened and he tells me that after the dedication to find an officer and they will radio it into dispatch for me. I'm still thinking to myself, "when is Taylor going to bail on me? He's done just about everything he can do for me and more...." but he doesn't! He tells the officer that he's going to stay with me afterwards to make sure that I have a phone to use if I need one and can get into my car safely. I'm just flabergasted that anyone is still this nice in the world. I'm a little thrilled that he walks into the arena with me and asks where I want to sit. He's going to sit with me too!?!? I just can't believe it! We find a place to sit but we still have just a little less than an hour until the meeting is supposed to start so we start getting to know each other asking questions about where each other grew up and how big our families are, until the meeting startes.
After the meeting, which was amazing by the way, we make our way out of the Marriott Center and try to find and officer or the first aid station they told us would be able to radio in that I needed a squad car to come and slim jim the lock. We can't find either. We decide to go out side and look for one possibly directing traffic. No luck there either. About this time a friend from my ward, Dave, sees me and says hello. He finds out that I didn't know Taylor before any of this happend and I think he's thinking "I don't want to leave Amanda with someone she doesn't know if she is stranded and needs a ride home" especially since he doesn't know that I've already informed Taylor of what complex I live in and he's been there with me! So Dave is hanging around and I now really expect Taylor to be like "Well here's a guy she knows maybe I should just go now." But he doesn't!
Just then we see an officer and Taylor flags him down and lets him know my situation. The cop radios it in for me and tells me to go wait by a certain stop sign for the car get there. We go and we wait. When the squad car shows up Dave finally decides that I'm in safe enough hands that he can leave. Taylor stays. The officer tries the slim jim, a bit larger tool and then a huge rod that he has to put into my car and hit the electric unlock button on the passenger side door to finally get it unlocked. I open the door and lean in to make sure is starts (the battery was on the whole time after all). IT DOES! Thank heavens for small miracles.
The officer gets back in his car and is getting ready to leave. I turn to Taylor and thank him for being SO extremely kind! He says "No Problem" gives me a hug and turns to head back to his car. So maybe it's the fact that he's from South Carolina and has therefore been taught to have "Southern Hospitality" or maybe he thought I was cute, or maybe he was just super nice. Which ever it was I was SO very thankful to have found him today. Most people would have offered me their phone and then headed right into the meeting without a second thought. He made sure I was ok the entire time until I was back in my running car! So thank you Taylor! May we all strive to be a little more like him the next time a stranger with a problem we can help solve comes our way. (Now if only he had asked for my number!!!)