When Strangers Become Friends

Most of the truck drivers seemed quite content in their amenity filled cabs, but the people in cars were extremely appreciative of the gesture. It was snowing hard and very cold and windy but we were able to communicate with a few of them that they were welcome to come to our house if they wanted a warm place to sleep (a few people mentioned that they were running out of gas and would be sitting in a cold vehicle soon). You couldn’t see our place from the road as the whiteouts were so intense, but we instructed them to look for the light that we would leave on for them. Once we ran out of hot chocolate we headed back to our place and were so thankful for a hot shower to warm us up!

Later in the evening, we heard a knock on our door. Two men had taken us up on our offer and walked to our place from their vehicle. They said they hardly made it as they couldn’t even see the light at times in the whiteout conditions. Understanding the slight awkwardness of having two complete strangers stay in your home, they immediately presented their business cards to us. We did not have much, but we pulled out our sleeping bags and extra pillows and the 2 men slept on our couch and floor that night.

The next morning, my husband and one of the men set out on the ATV to invite the people stranded on the road to our place. Five more men came back with them. We didn’t have enough blankets and pillows for them all, so some of our friends came out to our place with pillows and sleeping bags strapped to the back of their ATV’s and snowmobiles.

We didn’t have much for groceries in the house when the storm hit, so I tried to work with what we had to feed everyone. The meals were not glamorous by any means but the men seemed grateful. Coffee, pancakes, some fresh fruit, chili, brownies, soup, perogies, and roasted potato wedges was all the food that we had readily available to make meals for the men those days. Some of the men showered and we chatted, watched some TV and laughed together while playing cards and games that day. The men were all extremely kind and their positive attitudes in a no-doubt stressful and slightly uncomfortable situation made the day memorable and actually kind of fun! My husband and his friends drove their ATV’s and snowmobiles up and down London Line to check for any more stranded vehicles/people eastwards on London Line, as OPP cruisers couldn’t make it down the icy and snow drifted road lined with cars. They didn’t find anyone? thankfully everyone seemed to have been helped by that point.

That evening, the men slept wherever they could in our small, humble home. In the morning, they filled up on coffee and Jamie and the men set out with the ATV plow and shovels to start digging out their vehicles and moving them into our laneway, out of the way of the plows. By mid-day on day 3, London Line was clear and safe enough to drive on again. We exchanged emails and said our goodbyes and just like that, as quickly as they had come, our visitors were gone.

We kept in touch with many of the men and we received lovely emails & cards and some very thoughtful care packages a few weeks later. One of the first men to arrive at our place that snowy night has even come to visit us a few times in years since. Snowmageddon was an intense storm that surprised many and took our community by force. It was amazing to see how our military and community gathered around all these stranded people in our township. We were very grateful to be able to offer our home as a refuge for those men in their time of need and we will never forget those few days where strangers became like friends.