Friendly folks

Today I had a check I needed to cash.  Mark and I both belong to credit unions, and apparently there are no credit unions in Saratoga, but when I checked online I found one in Los Gatos.  I couldn’t find either of our GPS’s, so I came up with what seemed like a pretty good idea.  We needed a few groceries down below and there is one grocery store I know how to get to.  I got there and got my supplies, and while I was paying for them, I asked the cashier if he knew where Los Gatos Blvd is.  He didn’t, but he asked the guys behind me in line if they could help me.  One of them had a couple kids with him and he told me that as soon as he paid for his groceries, he’d help me.  When he was finished, he pulled out his phone and looked up the address of the credit union I was trying to get to and looked it up.  It brought up a map and he explained to me and showed me how to get there.

I found the place, but the most amazing part is yet to come.  If you belong to a credit union, you can use any credit union ATM, which was my plan, but I’ve never seen an ATM like this before.  I put my card in and entered my account info, and then it told me to insert the check.  I’m used to the machine popping out an envelope for me to put the check in and I enter the amount manually, but no, this machine actually photographed the check and entered the amount on it by itself!  What will they think of next?

On my way home, I took a wrong turn past a school and school was in session.  Oregon kids can thank their lucky stars that they still have until September 4th before school starts!  I did find my way back home, in case you’re wondering.

As I was cleaning this afternoon, I asked Lee who had covered for me yesterday when I took the afternoon off to get ready for Jamey and Sarah’s visit.  She told me she had, so I invited her over for cherry cheesecake to thank her.  We’ve just had a very pleasant evening visiting with her.  She is the only neighbor I haven’t really gotten to know yet because she seldom seems to come for group outings, so we took the opportunity to ask her all sorts of questions.  She is a very independent woman, but she regaled us with stories of how she had to have her daughter come and teach her how to drive her RV when she first bought it.  It reminded me of when I had to ask a couple people to teach me how to drive my first car, which was a stick shift.  We told Lee about our vacation from hell several years ago, and she told us about the October from hell when she had three very sick children, one of whom ended up in the hospital.  She’s funny and friendly one-on-one.

I think I’m learning something about myself here.  When I lived in Oregon City I was pretty content to hole up in my house most of the time.  Here, I have to rely on friendly strangers at the grocery store to help me find my way around, and I’m making an effort to get to know my neighbors and be sociable.  Maybe it has something to do with not having my support systems around me and having to create new ones.  It’s been good for me to be out of my comfort zone!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *