So today I was walking down my street, heading to our local IREX center. It was cold and kind of sunny, although there were mad clouds just creepin' by the mountains. So I got my scarf on, my coat, I'm wearing a skirt and some leggings with knee highs over them (because I clearly no longer actually care about fashion), and I got my iPod on listening to some good walking music.
I pass a young boy all bundled up with a bookbag on - he's probably walking home from school that must've just ended. I keep walking. I see an old lady. She's not wearing a coat. She is looking at me as if she is about to say something, and she is holding something in her hand. I get closer and I realize that she is holding a needle and a thread. She mumbles something to me that I don't understand (I'm not sure it was even in Azerbaijani), and tries to hand me the needle and thread. My amazing deductive reasoning skills are telling me that I think this lady wants me to thread the needle for her. She says a few more things, but all I make out is "eyes" and that the inflection in her voice means she just posed a question. Here's what I translate that to in my head: "I can't see very well, I can't get this thread through this needle. Can you do this for me?"
So of course I'm like "Oh yeah, I got you!," and I take the thread and needle from her. You know when you have some thread and the end is kind of frayed so you kind of lick it and pass your fingers over it so it'll stick back together in one piece? Well, it was clear that this lady had done this to the thread because it looked ready to be threaded. So I got to work, and the end of the thread was kind of tapered so it was easy to get the tip into the eye. (Sidenote: If I was telling this story to you in person, I would be inserting numerous "that's what she said"'s...try to guess where!) I started to get the thread through the needle but only a tiny bit of it had gone through so I couldn't grab hold of it enough to really pull.
At this point in my struggle, a car pulls up to the house we are standing next to and some old dudes get out. I deduct that this lady must live in the house because the dudes are talking to the lady, and after they say their Salam's she leaves me with the thread and walks into the house with one of the guys. I realize that the thread is way too thick to pass through the eye of the needle, but since I've already started forcing it through and the lady left me to my own accord I figured, whatevs, I'm gonna keep pulling it and eventually, maybe, it'll give way. Except that's not how the laws of physics work. One of the old guys who was still outside came over to see what I was doing, so I showed him the needle and thread. He proceeded to take it from me and explained that it was too small. I think he thought it was mine because he seemed really disappointed that it wouldn't fit, as if he was sad he couldn't help me out. I thought to myself, "Wait, for reals homie? You really think I'm just standing outside of your house trying to thread a needle?" but I appreciated that he cared so much. I explained that yes, I knew the thread was too big for the needle, but it wasn't mine though, I was just trying to help that lady. He thought that was funny and actually smiled. I left him with the needle and thread, said sağ olun, and continued down my street.
I walked away thinking, did that just happen? Did a stranger just stop me on the street to help her thread a needle? That was real? Yes, it was.
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