Gather round, folks, for a good old Midwestern snow storm story.

The lesson here is perhaps "be careful being a good neighbor." Which is maybe not the lesson I'd want most people to learn; lots of folks should be marginally better neighbors instead! But personally, I've been in a few situations where my own dumb kindness got me in a tight spot so maybe you need to hear this, too.

A few years ago, I was at home and noticed a neighbor on the street trying to get a parked car out of position after a big storm. I am a good Midwestern neighbor, so I put on my boots and a big coat and went out to help push.

Except, the gathered people (several relatives of someone who lived on the block) had decided to try to use a minivan to battering ram a stuck parked car out of position, and someone was holding a baby in their arms in the passenger seat of the battering ram van. So I offered to hold the baby and stand a safe distance away on the sidewalk... and then since it was freezing and this was dragging on, I offered to take the baby into my living room for a few minutes to keep warm. At one point, I sent my partner to fetch a diaper & some wipes to even change the baby! The unstuck-ing was taking a while, but they'd get it soon!

And then eventually, I looked up at the window and the adult neighbors had all disappeared in the van and the formerly stuck car, and I still had this baby?? Who I didn't even know the name of, or my neighbors' names, or really any info at all. One of the vehicles came back around the corner after 5-10 of the longest minutes of my life, and I ran outside and flung the baby at them. The parent had forgotten the baby had been with them originally, apparently, when they all went back to one of the relatives' houses to warm up.