(It’s my senior year in high school and I have finally saved up the money to go out for sports. I choose track and field since I love running. We are at a meet at a neighboring school, and I’m running the 400-meter relay. I turn a corner and see a girl from our rival school lying in the ditch. I immediately stop and help her. I get her mostly conscious and we start walking slowly across the field to her team. My classmates start booing and jeering loudly. I can see my coach shaking her head. I finally get the girl back to her team, and they get her to a doctor. I go to sit with my team, where they proceed to berate me for the rest of the meet. My coach refuses to speak to me, but sends her favorite student to tell me how upset and disappointed in me she is that I “threw the race.” I am sitting on the bleachers, crying silently, when two students from the other team approach me.)

Student #1: “Hey, we just wanted to say thanks for helping our friend.”

Student #2: “Yeah, that was so awesome.”

(They quickly left, but their kindness has stayed with me for decades. I’m now 43, and I will never forget it.)

(I volunteer as a Scout leader. Our Cub Scout pack has several boys in it who live at a nearby residential school for kids with emotional and learning disabilities. Many are there because their parents have lost custody due to their inability to give these kids the help they need. When we first accepted these kids into the pack, we were a little concerned about how they would fit in with the ‘typical’ kids. One of the kids from the special school is going to be going back home to live with his parents, which is a huge deal. We give him a goodbye card and wish him luck. Unfortunately, he is back at the school a month later due to his loser-parents not doing their job. There is a pack event, and this kid shows up with the rest of the kids from the school. He is hanging in the back, looking a bit down when the rest of the den he had been in sees him.)

Scout #1: “[Kid]! You’re here!”

Scout #2: “We thought you left!”

Scout #1: “We need you for our team! Come on!”

(The kid burst into a huge smile and joined the others like he had never been away. 10- and 11-year-old boys can be a trial some days, but my Scouts gave this kid a better welcome than his own family, and his teacher said it was the first time he had smiled in about a week. The next generation of humanity is doing all right.)

(I have a service dog, for psychiatric reasons. I’m not blind, though most people seem to think eye-seeing dogs are the only service dogs out there. Thus, my life gets harder sometimes… Like while on vacation…)

Me: *with my dog by my side* “Hi, checking in for [Last Name]…”

Motel Guy: “NO DOGS! NO PETS ALLOWED!”

Me: “Well, she’s not a pet…”

Motel Guy: “NO PETS!” *yells something in a language I don’t understand to a woman in a back room*

Motel Lady: “Hi, yes, no pets here!”

Me: “She’s a service dog… We prepaid…”

(I starting to have a panic attack come on, but I try to keep it together.)

Motel Guy: “I’ll call the booking company…”

(I text my husband who is outside in the car with the baby, and ask if he can switch spots with me. Unfortunately the baby is crying and so he took him for a ride around the block.)

Motel Guy: “They say I need to let you stay. So the fee, for staying… plus a $300 deposit…”

Me: “What? We pre-paid, online…”

(At this point my husband pulls back up to the office.)

Me: “I’ll let my husband talk to you…”

(The next part, I am not present for; I run back to the car with my dog in tow, wishing I could hide under a table.)

Husband: “Would you refuse a wheelchair to someone that needed one? Because she NEEDS her dog. You can’t charge a FEE to someone who needs a fridge to store their medication, can you?”

Motel Guy: “I will make it only a $50 deposit…”

Husband: “No. I’ll be calling the booking site to cancel this, and if you manage to weasel a CENT out of us, we’ll sue.”

(Not only did the booking site refund us, but they gave us a credit, AND found us a nicer hotel for the same cost we had put up for that place, on a busy weekend. Sometimes, the good guys DO win!)

(My husband and I are on a road trip with our 8-month-old daughter. We had planned to drive for a short time, find a restaurant for a late dinner, and then keep driving to the next city to get a hotel. We get caught up in a horrible traffic jam that takes over an hour to get through. By the time we are out of it, it is almost 10 pm. Luckily, our daughter is fine – she had slept for most of the time, and when she got hungry, I was able to give her a bottle and some snacks while my husband drove the car.)

Me: “Thank goodness we’re out of that traffic jam, but boy, I’m starving.”

Husband: “Me, too, but I’m not sure if anything is going to be open anymore.”

Me: “There’s a restaurant; the sign says “Open”, and I see people inside.”

Husband: “Hooray! We’re saved!”

(We got out of the car and started walking towards the restaurant. We were almost at the door when one of the employees, seeing us, flipped the sign to “Closed”.)

Employee: *through the door* “I’m really sorry, but it’s past closing time and our grill is shut down for the night.”

Husband: “Oh, dear! We were afraid of that.”

(We turn to leave. At that moment, my daughter wakes up in my arms and coos adorably at the employee.)

Employee: “Oh! You have a baby! We can’t turn you away with nothing to eat. Come on in!”

Me: “Really?”

Employee: “Sure! One thing, though; we can only serve you sandwiches, since our grill is closed.”

Husband: “That’s absolutely fine. Thank you so much!”

(We quickly ate a very decent meal of sandwiches and salad. We made sure we left a generous tip. Thank you, restaurant employee, for bending the rules and not sending us into the night hungry!)

(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!)