(I am out to dinner with my mom. We have just come back from a high school football game my close friend played in. It is rush hour traffic on Friday and the restaurant is extremely crowded. We are just about done with our meal when this happens.)

Mom: “Hey!” *trying to get our waitress’ attention* “Can we get our bill, please? We don’t need to take any more time than we need to.”

Waitress: “Sure, I will be back in a couple of minutes.”

(My mom and I start talking about a book I am reading when the waitress comes back.)

Waitress: “Here is your bill; are you guys talking about [Book I am reading]?”

Me: “Yeah. Have you read it before?”

Waitress: *sad tone* “No, but I really want to. Between school, work, and family I don’t have much free time much less any extra money.”

Me: “Oh, well, it is a really good book about…” *add really badly-explained book theme here because I’m bad at explaining*

(The waitress is visibly stressed until we start talking about the book, at which she becomes significantly calmer.)

Mom: “We will be going in a couple of minutes. I have to get something from my bag.”

Waiter: “Okay, I will be back in a few minutes.”

Mom: *pulls out a $20 bill the split second after our waitress disappears from view along with our bill total with a note saying “go buy yourself a book : )”*

(My mom and I hurried out to our car after we set the note on the table. I popped back inside just in time for her to read the note. I will never forget that happy feeling I got looking at her read that note. If the waitress that we had ever reads this I hope you got a good book you liked!)

(I work in a toy store and it’s not odd for me to be approached by children asking where items are located in the store. However, one day I’m approached by a little boy, his mother, and his grandmother.)

Boy: “Excuse me; do you have anything on planets?”

Me: “Planets? Sure! Right this way.”

(I lead the group to area for our science section which was where our space-centric toys were located and the little boy gasps.)

Boy: “I have that one!” *points to a space system mobile set* “Oh, I want this!” *picks up a box of glow-in-the-dark planets* “Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto!”

Me: “Whoa, you know all the planets, huh?” *surprised because he can’t be older than three*

Boy’s Mother: “He knows all the moons, too. He just loves space.”

Boy: “Look! It’s got Saturn’s rings!” *holds up the set*

(Cutest little boy ever. Whenever I’m feeling a bit blue, I tend to think of the budding little space scientist.)

This story is part of our Pluto roundup!

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(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.)

(I’m at the supermarket checkout, getting all of my stuff scanned. Behind me are the self-scanning checkouts. The place is fairly busy, and out of nowhere comes the scream of a newborn. Of course, everyone looks over to see what’s going on. There’s a woman, possibly in her late twenties, early thirties, all alone, trying to scan her groceries and calm the baby at the same time. The kid is having none of it. You can clearly see that this poor woman is trying to decide whether to calm the baby down now, or get the scanning done quickly so that she can comfort him longer. During this, the kid is screaming blue murder. Suddenly, I see the woman who was behind me in the line go over to the lady.)

Woman: “Hi, I was just over there with my husband and toddler, and, please tell me if I’m crossing the line, but would you like me to hold your baby for you?”

(Now, this woman is clearly very pregnant, as well as having a young son, so she’s obviously not only done this before, but has nothing but sympathy for the young woman in front of her.)

Young Mother: “Oh, wow, thank you so much. That would be great. I’m almost finished. I’m so sorry for the noise. It’s just I’m here alone, and—”

Woman: “It’s really okay, don’t worry about it. It’s tough with a newborn. You’re doing fine.”

(With this, the young mother picked up her newborn and handed him to the other woman. He stopped crying almost immediately, and his mother went to finish up with her scanning. During all of this, the other woman stayed close by, never going out of eye shot so that the new mum could always see where her child was. I was all done and out the door before I could see how it ended, but I thought it was lovely that a stranger would go out of their way to help a struggling mother. Kudos to you, wherever you are.)