The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Trio of Texans make fast friends in a snowstorm slumber party
Chelsea Timmons delivers groceries on weekends to make extra money, and as she pulled up to a client’s long, sloped driveway in Austin, Texas, things suddenly took a bad turn: Her car began to slide uncontrollably toward the client’s house.
It was Valentine’s Day, and the historic storm that devastated Texas had just begun. Timmons had thought she could make one more delivery and head home. Instead, she crashed into the homeowners’ flower beds, then took out a small tree before her Toyota RAV4 came to a rest.
“I tried to back up, and that just made it worse,” said Timmons, 32.
Timmons texted the client inside the house that she was stuck in the driveway. Homeowner Doug Condon quickly came outside. Condon tried to help free her vehicle, but it wouldn’t budge.
Condon and his wife, Nina Richardson, told Timmons to come inside and get warm while she called AAA and several towing companies. After making calls for several hours, Timmons said it dawned on her that help wasn’t coming. The roads were terrible and accidents were piling up all over.
At this point, Condon, 58, and Richardson, 62, decided to invite her to stay with them.
“We have two guest rooms. It just seemed like the natural thing to do, considering the situation,” said Richardson. “We didn’t even need to talk it over.”
Richardson prepared a Valentine’s Day dinner of steaks, potatoes, broccoli and salad with the groceries Timmons had delivered, then the three gathered around the table.
“We just became friends,” added Richardson. “She’s a wonderful, sweet young woman. We couldn’t imagine sending her out in the dark on dangerous roads.”
The bad weather persisted and one night stretched to five.
Once the weather warmed up and she was able to dig out her car, Timmons posted some photos of her Austin adventure and a note of thanks on Facebook the day before she returned home.
“How amazingly blessed am I right in this moment?!” she wrote. “Blessed that out of all the places for my car to get stuck, it was their flower bed and not a ditch. Blessed that they were willing to let the ‘Delivery Driver’ into their home in the midst of a pandemic. Blessed that during the time of a food shortage, they were willing to share their meals.”