Random Acts of Kindness

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP- Your DH sounds like a gem, and a keeper!

Thanks! He is super nice.. my parents adore him- he goes over and does their weeds/garden/ sets things up before they come back from trips- things I don't do as their own child.. I didn't check this thread for such a long time afraid of getting snarked (a verb on this board- lol)-

[SurelyYouNest]

For me it's the hand me down chain that is so filled with bighearted people paying it forward. My cousin's SIL (now that's a mouthful) just out of the blue mailed me a huge box of hand me downs for my boy, including a sweater that says "hand knit by a friend, please return" -- I am so touched by her kindness.

[Anonymous]

A very nice young woman stopped and chatted w/me in front of my house on halloween. I was putting up additional decorations to add to elaborate mayhem we already had. I was getting devoured by mosquitoes as we chatted and I guess b/c it was Halloween I remembered that bats were supposed to be very good to have around because they will eat the mosquitoes in their environment. I mentioned "I relly should get a bat house--but that with 3 kids busy life blah, blah, blah--that jut wasn't at the top my list. A couple of days later I came home and found a bat house on my porch She had left it w nice note and her phone number. awesome.

[Anonymous]

Today the woman in front of me in a public restroom offered to let me go ahead of her, I guess because I am enormously pregnant! So sweet.

[Anonymous]

pp - let's keep this positive.

I will let people go in front of me at the grocery store if they have a couple of items vs my 20+. I won't say I've had an equal return back but it does make people happy.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor saw me shoveling load after load of mulch today and walked over with his shovel to help. I could have cried. He loaded the wheel barrel for me while I spread it around. It was awesome and I it went so much faster than it would have on my own.

[Anonymous]

My little boy was 17 months old when his brother was born. I can't even count the acts of random kindness. But mostly I remember countless strangers of all ages running after me to return things that my children have dropped on the street - from hats to mittens to socks to SHOES to bottle and cups to toys and a soccer ball that bounced into traffic and down Wisconsin Avenue at rush hour.

Thank you to all of them!

In general, I believe that young children bring out the best in people - they really want to do something nice around them.

[Anonymous]

One of many random acts of kindness: I was at target (or tar-geeet) and preggo with my DD then 2- it was raining SO much-like rain blowing on us even with raincoats and hats- I had a raincoat etc. and umbrella but the wind made it too hard- a man came running over with a huge umbrella- walked with me and DD almost the entire parking lot (that packed) and helped me pack my car etc. said he was a grandfather (though he looked youngish- not like 80s for sure!) and adored kids and wanted to help anyone who needed it- said he knew how hard it was.. it is like paying it forward-

[Anonymous]

PP here- I mean I was preggo and had DD who was 2.. I was actually not as big preggo-wise with DS- just not pigging out as DD since I learned it takes a while to work it off! ps. boht kiddos were same birth weight - 7-14 lbs..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of many random acts of kindness: I was at target (or tar-geeet) and preggo with my DD then 2- it was raining SO much-like rain blowing on us even with raincoats and hats- I had a raincoat etc. and umbrella but the wind made it too hard- a man came running over with a huge umbrella- walked with me and DD almost the entire parking lot (that packed) and helped me pack my car etc. said he was a grandfather (though he looked youngish- not like 80s for sure!) and adored kids and wanted to help anyone who needed it- said he knew how hard it was.. it is like paying it forward-

This reminded me of a similar story that happened to me. In the rain pushing the stroller, trying to get to my apartment, and a man drove by, got out of his car, and gave me his umbrella. I said, "No I live close by!" but he insisted. That was a really nice thing to do. I think it made him as happy as me.

[Anonymous]

Yesterday I stopped to help a woman with a flat tire. I stayed behind her while she pulled of 295, and tried to get the tire changed. One of the lug nuts was stripped, but we were just a few blocks from her house, so I gave her a ride, and a bottle of water I had in the car.

It reminded me of a time when I had to drive after an ice storm, and the road still had a thick layer of ice on it. I had spun out on a fairly busy roadway, and was facing westbound in the eastbound lane. Some men were really nice and helped get the car turned around, and warned on coming traffic.

[Anonymous]

One time after a really big snow fall, I came outside and discovered that one of our neighbors had plowed our driveway and sidewalk. It was really unexpected and so very kind.

[Anonymous]

My husband had knee surgery over Thanksgiving weekend last year...when I was eight months pregnant with #3. Our neighbor kindly raked and bagged all our leaves. Another friend and her husband brought over a Thanksgiving meal before they left town to their own family, knowing full well we wouldn't be able to pull off a Thanksgiving meal.

When I was in my third trimester, had just moved to another country, was working full time, didn't have a house or a car and was living in a hotel on base, an acquaintance delivered a homecooked meal to our hotel room. I cried at how sweet it was.

[Anonymous]

Last year, DH, DS (6 mos old) and I were driving home from a trip and got caught in a snowstorm on our way into DC. Going down NH Avenue, we hit some ice and spun out. I (driving) ran right up a curb smack dab between two cars. Snow was coming down hard, streets were mostly empty. It was freezing. I was freaked Couldn't back up. DH got out, tried o push us off; no luck. Man walking by came over to help; pushed really, really hard w/DH to get us moving. It worked. God bless him. And he was carrying his takeout dinner, so I'm pretty sure he would have been just as happy to get home to his warm house and dinner!

Also, I see many random acts of kindness in the city--so many people smiling at my son, engaging him, picking up the crap he drops on the sidewalk, jumping up from tables to open restaurant doors for us, and so much more.

[Anonymous]

When I was pregnant, I craved Persian food and we did not have a Persian restaurant in town. So one day, my husband and I drove to the nearest town with a Persian restaurant (2 hours away), only to get there and find it was closed on Mondays. It sounds silly, but I was about to burst into tears. The owner who was doing something in the restaurant came out and inivited us in, cooked for us, and made my day. He did all of this knowing that we were not local and would not become regular customers!