Tell me about a random conversation with a stranger that changed your life in some way

[Anonymous]

Small scale, but a random drugstore clerk saw my uneven oily pimply skin and, totally unsolicited (I was in the store to buy bandaids), introduced me to the pressed powder that was on sale and showed me the right color to try. I was a tomboy who never used makeup but always felt self conscious of my skin. I was embarrassed to have a flaw pointed out but figured "what the heck, I'll try it."

After getting it, so many people told me I looked great. It was the perfect shade and made a big difference. I was a little miffed that my actual friends who were into makeup never told me this existed but thankful for that stranger!

[Anonymous]

I was waitressing my way through law school. Grew up in a blue collar town and the first in my family to go for an advanced degree. Very working class upbringing with sears catalogs and a Ralph Lauren towel was flashy.

I was taking a drink order and a guy pulls up his shirt to show off his watch and says “do you know what that is?” I say “a watch”. He says “no, it’s a MO-VA-DO”.

From that moment on I realized that fancy clothes and nice watches will never erase bad character. Not all people with nice things should be aspired to emulate

[Anonymous]

My first husband was a charismatic man and everyone he met became his friend. Right before he died, he shared a table with a stranger at a food place in some random airport. The young man was just out of college, out-of-luck and having a hard finding a job. My husband, who owned his own company, was encouraging and gave him several suggestions. Later that week my husband died in a tragic accident. It made the headlines. The guy he met felt so strongly about my husband's death that he spent every last dime he had to take the bus (it took over 20-30 hours on the bus) to come to my husband's childhood hometown to attend the funeral. When the young man introduced himself to me at the wake, he was so moved about his encounter with my husband, and so sad about his death (this person whom he had only met for 30-40 minutes) that I couldn't get him out of my mind in the weeks that followed. So I talked to the 2nd in command at my husband's company, whom I had hired to be my husband's replacement, and he ended up hiring this young man into a very low level position. That young man now is president and CEO of my husband's company. All because of a chance encounter he had with my husband and then me. Life spins on a dime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met a woman waiting for a train. I was with my daughter (who is adopted from another ethnicity, so it is sort of obvious). The woman gently asked if she was adopted. I said yes. She asked if she had been an orphan/lived in an orphanage before I got her. I said yes. She asked how old she was when she got adopted. I said 1. Then I asked how old she was when she got adopted. She said she was never adopted.

The silence hung in the air. I asked, "Well do you have a husband or children of your own now (she looked to be in her 30's)". She said "No."

I was not sure how to respond. The thought of going all through life with literally no family was just very hard for me to imagine.

How did this change your life?

I adopted more children so no one would have to go through life alone.

Do you want to know what is odd? I wrote the original post, but someone else answered how it (the incident) changed their life. 🤔

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My first husband was a charismatic man and everyone he met became his friend. Right before he died, he shared a table with a stranger at a food place in some random airport. The young man was just out of college, out-of-luck and having a hard finding a job. My husband, who owned his own company, was encouraging and gave him several suggestions. Later that week my husband died in a tragic accident. It made the headlines. The guy he met felt so strongly about my husband's death that he spent every last dime he had to take the bus (it took over 20-30 hours on the bus) to come to my husband's childhood hometown to attend the funeral. When the young man introduced himself to me at the wake, he was so moved about his encounter with my husband, and so sad about his death (this person whom he had only met for 30-40 minutes) that I couldn't get him out of my mind in the weeks that followed. So I talked to the 2nd in command at my husband's company, whom I had hired to be my husband's replacement, and he ended up hiring this young man into a very low level position. That young man now is president and CEO of my husband's company. All because of a chance encounter he had with my husband and then me. Life spins on a dime.

Great story! He left a lasting legacy, on multiple levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a encounter with a serial killer, I was so lucky to have gotten away in a fluke of luck. It made me more careful about traveling alone. I think it was divine intervention.

I'm so sorry to hear that you encountered them and so glad to hear that you were safe. I hope that you are doing well now.

If you feel comfortable answering this question, how were you able to leave? This information might be helpful for others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't a complete stranger--it was someone at church, but we hadn't ever spoken more than a hello/goodbye before.

Her kids were teenagers and mine were all under 8.

She said something like--remember, you want there to be more than a few years between them learning how to cross the street and them learning how to put on condoms.

It made a huge difference in how I viewed their independence and I still think about that conversation all the time.

I don’t fully get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a young professional and a new older gentleman in his 60s started working at my job. People were recentful that he got the job because he was so old, and they wanted a young and hip programmer, but couldn't finding with our small budget. It was lunch time and no one socialized with him so I asked him to lunch. When we set down to eat his eyes watered and he thanked me profusely for offering to eat with him. He told me that he had brain cancer and was dying. He had been praying for this job as he had been laid off. He was commuting to MD from CT where his much younger wife lived with their 5 year old son. He was very stressed to be leaving them behind, and worried that after he died his wife would not have enough money to care for herself and the son. It made me realize how kindness really matters. You never know what someone is going through.

Oh, wow. That is really moving. You are a good, good person, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had a encounter with a serial killer, I was so lucky to have gotten away in a fluke of luck. It made me more careful about traveling alone. I think it was divine intervention.

That's very scary. I'm glad you got away. How did you know (or find out) that he was a serial killer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It wasn't a complete stranger--it was someone at church, but we hadn't ever spoken more than a hello/goodbye before.

Her kids were teenagers and mine were all under 8.

She said something like--remember, you want there to be more than a few years between them learning how to cross the street and them learning how to put on condoms.

It made a huge difference in how I viewed their independence and I still think about that conversation all the time.

I don’t fully get it.

Give them a chance to be independent and make mistakes when they are on the younger side. If you are hyper protective and don't let them cross big streets until they are 15, you will be setting them up to be at risk in other ways.

And if anyone thinks I'm exaggerating, there was a thread on a neighborhood list about what age to allow kids to cross two major streets/intersections and there were several answers that were 18+ or "never"

[Anonymous]

During college, I bumped into a famous non-fiction author in the restroom immediately after her book event. She was on the phone with her husband, worrying about how she came across and second-guessing many of the things she said.

I was stunned that someone so successful and famous could still be so insecure. Until that point I think I believed that there was some level of achievement and success that innoculated adults from those types of feelings. Like a "get out of Insecurity Jail free card" LOL.

But overhearing her conversation opened up a new type of empathy for me (everyone hurts/suffers sometimes) and helped me begin to recognize that achievement was not a magic cure for insecurities or worries.

While humanizing her in my eyes, I think I took it as a reminder to look more inside myself for validation rather than trying to guess/figure out what others thought about me. For someone so successful, she seemed really unhappy in that moment. (I did tell her afterwards - in the hallway - how much I enjoyed her talk and her book. )