(Driving home one day, we see a bicyclist fall off her bike just ahead of us. When I see in our rearview mirror she still hasn’t gotten up, we pull over to see if she is okay. I jump out of the car with my 11-year-old daughter.)

Me: *calling out as we walk towards her* “Hi, do you need a hand? Are you okay?

Cyclist: *picking her bike up* “I’m okay… This was my first time riding my new bike and I am more worried I damaged it than me.”

(Her arm is bleeding a little, and her chain is dangling off her bike.)

Me: “Yeah, you’re a bit scraped up but the bike looks okay to me.”

Cyclist: “My chain came off and now I have to walk the bike home.”

Daughter: “Oh, I know how to fix that! Here, I’ll hold this thing in and you loop the chain back up there… Okay, hold it in place; I’m letting go. Okay, now pedal it gently to click it into place.”

Cyclist: “Oh, wow, you fixed it. Thank you so much!”

Daughter: “You’re welcome! Have a nice day!”

(As we walked back to our car, my daughter was beaming that she had the knowledge and ability to help a grown up and make their day better. The cyclist waved as she passed us as she rode by.)

(A man comes in on Mother’s Day who only wants a glass of water. He sits there for a while, and while he isn’t rude, he isn’t particularly nice either. About the time he is going to leave he calls me over.)

Man: “You know that young lady over there?”

(I think he was going to complain about another server, and I hold back an eye-roll.)

Man: “I want to pay for her meal.”

(Instantly I realize he is talking about the mother alone with her child a few tables over. I thank him profusely, take his payment, and he leaves. When it is time for the woman’s bill I go to talk to her.)

Me: “Your meal is already paid for by the gentleman who was sitting over there.”

Woman: “Are you serious? I wish I could thank him. That’s the one good thing that has happened to me in a long time.”

(Her eyes began to fill with tears. Then I noticed she was wearing a bracelet indicating a male close to her had recently died. I thank that man for touching the life of a woman who was going through a hard time, and teaching me to not always judge a book by its cover!)

This story is part of the Mother’s Day 2023 roundup! This is the last story in the roundup, but we have plenty of others you might enjoy!

14 Stories That Celebrate Moms – For Mother’s Day 2021!

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This story is part of our Mother’s Day 2021 roundup!

Read the next Mother’s Day 2021 roundup story!

Read the Mother’s Day 2021 roundup!

(My sister has just come out as gay, which is difficult as most of our family is Catholic. While I’ve left the church, she is struggling because her faith is very important to her. We decide to go to mass on Christmas Eve, seeing as that would hopefully be the one day politics are kept out of the service.)

Priest: “Now, on this day, it is important to remember what makes us good Catholics regarding the topic of marriage…”

Me: *to my sister* “You have got to be kidding me.”

(The priest goes on a long diatribe not about the joy of Christmas but about the laws of being a Catholic, including being anti-gay marriage, pro-life, and anti-birth control. By this point, my sister is squeezing my hand tightly, trying not to cry.)

Sister: “I want to go home.”

(Before we leave, however, we stand up to sing a hymn. My sister and I are both singers, so we go at it with gusto, trying to recover from the homily. Suddenly, a man turns around and looks at me.)

Man: “You have an absolutely beautiful voice.”

Me: “Oh, uh, thank you.”

Man: *looks at my sister* “So do you. You both sound beautiful.”

(We resume singing for a while, and then, as we sit back down, the man turns back to me.)

Man: “Your voices are so lovely. I want to give you this. I know it’s not much, but please take it.”

(He hands me a plastic, blue ring with the word “LOVE” inscribed on it. I thank him, but he disappears from the service after the Eucharist. About five years later, my sister is engaged to the love of her life, and while both of us have permanently left the church due to the conflict of our beliefs, I still have the ring and will never forget that man for basically saving Christmas for both of us.)

(I am on an international flight going home from studying in Germany. I’m exhausted and stressed out by headaches at each air pressure change, when a baby starts wailing. This goes on for nearly an hour quite close to me, but then I hear a different voice.)

Woman: *to the mother* “You need some rest, dear. Do you want me to take your baby for a while?”

(I look up and see a nun in her full robe and habit. The mother quickly agrees.)

Nun: *to baby* “You just need to be walked a bit, don’t you? You’re so cute. Here, let’s give you a bounce and go see what’s on this end of the plane… then the other. I know you don’t like the air pressure changes either.”

(The baby soon stops crying, and the nun starts singing to it in Italian. She held it for the next two hours, even after it spat up on her habit!)

(I’m out on a date with my boyfriend, at the time, at a very nice French-American restaurant. We’re both in our early 20s, and very easily the youngest people in this pretty ritzy restaurant. We’re seated near to an older couple, and after we’ve ordered, I notice that they’re whispering to each other, with their hands next to their mouths, so we can’t see or hear what they say. I am thinking they are being very rude. They eventually leave as we order dessert. When we request the bill, the waitress brings it out, but tells us before handing it to us:)

Waitress: “Before I give you your bill, the couple next to you wanted you to know that they really liked seeing you two here and they paid for one of your beef tenderloins.”

(My jaw all but hit the table as that cut our bill almost in half (adding $36 to their bill as well!), and was single handedly the most generous thing I’ve ever had anyone do for me. It’s a reminder to me to not judge people without reason. Just because you think they might be rude doesn’t mean they actually are.)