Curb Check

Some days offer a small moment that quietly brings an unexpected smile. Mine arrived in the form of a courtesy ride after dropping my car off at the collision repair shop. The driver looked to be in his late seventies and drove a little faster than I expected, but the distance to the rental car place was short and our conversation was the kind that happens when two strangers share a few minutes of life.

As we pulled into the rental car lot, he turned a little too sharply and bumped the curb. He  said he shouldn’t have done that. I smiled and told him we would just call it a curb check. He smiled and that opened the door for me to share the story behind those words.

I told him how Kelly, lovingly known as Grandpa, used to drift a little too close to the curb when he drove. Afterwards he would simply say curb check, just making sure the curb is still there. I usually would shake my head and roll my eyes, but now saying those words again brought the memory back with such sweetness. The sound of his voice, the way he could turn a moment into something humorous. I love how those tiny moments have become a fun memory of him, and how sharing it brought something new to this driver, something I felt he could carry with him and maybe use again someday.

Life is made up of plenty of little bumps, the kind that catch us off guard, nudge us off course, or make us wince for a moment. But when we can, it helps to remember this story and turn those moments into a curb check of sorts. A reminder that not every bump is a disaster. Sometimes it is just life tapping us on the shoulder, making sure we are awake, present, and still moving forward.

The simple phrase Grandpa gave us with the reply "curb check", can remind us that love lingers in the simplest places, even in the soft bump of a tire against a curb.