Editors, Vineyard Gazette;

Since losing my dad, Ron Rappaport, unexpectedly in June, trips back to the Vineyard are both joyful and hard, full of love and full of grief.

On my most recent trip back, at the tail end of October, the return voyage was even tougher than usual. Juggling my two young boys (4 and 17 months) and all of our bags alone, I arrived back at our car to discover a completely flat tire. It was in just this type of situation that I would have called AAA, then called my dad to grumble and get advice. 

I called AAA immediately, and also felt the familiar pit of grief rise up knowing that my dad wasn’t here to help or listen. In that moment, three strangers stepped in. 

The driver of the SSA shuttle bus, whose name I did not have the presence of mind to ask, circled back for us as my children screamed and cried. He stopped and tried to locate our spare tire while I talked to AAA. While I love what the Prius affords us in gas emissions, I do not love what I now know it does not afford: room for a spare tire. Without one, AAA could only send a tow truck, but it being Sunday, they said we wouldn’t be able to get help same-day.

The SSA driver had to rush to take another passenger to the ferry, but promised he’d be back. He returned and inflated the tire. 

In the interim, a couple had stopped to help. The woman found my boys’ coats in our bags and kept my children warm, taking my eldest for a pee break in the woods (I don’t think he’s ever gone to the bathroom with a stranger!) while the man looked for the cause of the flat, Googled about the Prius to try to understand how we would know if the tire became too flat while driving, and offered other support. 

Ultimately, with the generosity and patience of these three in the SSA parking lot (who even and without me realizing, packed all of our things into the trunk while I was trying to reach my husband), my boys and I got into the car, the tire temporarily inflated, and we drove cautiously and with stops, to our destination safe and sound. 

We dropped the car off to get the tire patched the next day. 

None of these people had to stop, let alone the SSA bus driver who returned multiple times and exhibited such warmth, reassurance and competence throughout. After a lifetime of taking the Steamship Authority, this man was the kindest, warmest and most helpful employee I have ever encountered. And yet, they all did stop, taking time out of their day to comfort, to warm, to help, to solve a problem. As we got ready to get into the car, I told these three strangers that I had lost my dad recently, that I missed him, and how their extremely kind and resourceful gestures were all the more impactful as a result of being without him. 

Julia Rappaport

Newton and Chilmark