Paranoia?

I don’t know if I should be thankful or unhappy. I may be a sad soul, or just old and fat, or it may be just a nice gesture from a friend, so let me tell you what happened and you can figure it out for yourself.

On Sunday, I was taking my daughter to the airport in the morning. She had packed her new suitcase (a Christmas present from her parents) and it weighed 58 pounds. I struggled with it down the steps and out to the car (on wheels once it left the house) and put it behind my car and opened the back to put the case in.

My neighbors, their whole family, were going out for a walk on this beautiful sunny, clear winter day and they spied me. The head of the household (the guy) came briskly over and said, “Here Arthur, let me give you a hand with that” and he picked it up and put it in the car.

I thanked him but was concerned. Did I look too weak to lift it, since I had brought it down the stairs and out already? Did he perceive me as too old to lift it? He is a young man of about 40 or so.

Was it just a neighborly gesture of help? It was meant well for sure and I did appreciate it. However, he wasn’t going to go to the airport with me to get it out of the car so what’s the difference?

Am I paranoid? (of course!)