My husband and I are relaxing at home, and he’s having a bowl of instant ramen. As he’s finishing the last of it, a small piece of noodle falls from his fork to the floor, escaping his notice.
Me: *In mock affront* “[Husband], how could you?”
Husband: “Wha?”
I point to the piece of noodle.
Me: “You’ve leaked noods!”
[Husband] looks down at the noodle and shrugs.
Husband: “Eh, at least they were my own!”
My old company used to have the concept of a “Bus Number” — the minimum number of people who could be hit by a bus and still have work proceed as normal. A “Bus Number” of one was bad, meaning there was no backup in case someone was incapacitated, so the goal was for every essential project to have a “Bus Number” of at least three.
We changed the term when someone was actually hit by a bus.
We now have a “Mothership Number” — the number of people who could be brought home by their alien mothership and still have work proceed as normal.
So far, there have been no alien encounters, so we’re putting this down as a win.
This was probably over twenty years ago, but I find myself thinking of this story from time to time even these days because it was so touching to me.
I have always loved Halloween and entertaining and scaring trick-or-treaters at my house. One Halloween when I was in my late twenties, I was eager to get into the business of scaring people. We realized at the last minute that we didn’t have candles for our pumpkins. I reluctantly volunteered to go to the store but didn’t want to miss any time doing my thing at our scary “haunted house” in the front yard.
I drove down to the local [Grocery Chain] and looked up and down the aisles. A girl in a witch costume walked by.
Girl: “Do you know where the pumpkin candles are?”
Me: “I’m in a rush looking for the same thing!”
She looked very kindly at me and gave me a big smile.
Girl: “Let’s work together; you go that way and I’ll check this way.”
We covered the whole store and reported back to one another that we were unable to locate the candles.
Girl: “You check next door at [Store #1], and I’ll check at [Store #2].”
It was becoming a game, and we were both clearly in a hurry to get the candles and get to where we wanted to be. But I also noticed that it was becoming kind of fun.
I checked high and low in [Store #1] and, once again, had no luck. As I walked into [Store #2], I immediately saw my new friend, the witch, in the checkout line buying candles!
Me: “Awesome! Where are they?!”
Girl: “Right here!”
And she handed me a package of candles. I barely had time to thank her, and she left me with another beaming smile.
It’s important to remember how impactful even the smallest act of kindness can be. Wherever you are out there, my cute witch, I still remember our Halloween team effort and your kindness!
One of my friends is heavily pregnant and suffering from baby-brain. She is also in peak nesting and constantly cleaning and organising the house.
Her husband doesn’t quite understand nesting and has been questioning and telling [Friend] that she doesn’t need to do all this work. [Friend] is strong-willed normally, so you know these arguments haven’t gone in her husband’s favour. He has now been told essentially to just be quiet and let her organise the house how she wants for the arrival of the baby. She will be the one home with the baby, after all.
One day, [Friend] is organising the fridge, and she is getting very frustrated as she’s doing so. She’s moving everything around to get a bulk of room. Her husband starts watching. He knows better than to question her, but he starts to smile when he sees what she is trying to fit in the fridge. He sits down and watches for a while, holding back his laughter as his pregnant wife gets more and more frustrated and it starts to manifest as anger.
After a good fifteen minutes, [Friend] slams what she’s holding on the bench, and her husband starts cracking up laughing. She turns and stares daggers at him.
Husband: *With a smile* “What are you doing, dear?”
Friend: “I’m just trying to make room in the fridge for the… toaster.”
She stopped in confusion and looked at the fridge and the toaster. She shut the fridge, put the toaster back, and started laughing after a few minutes of mixed emotions.
She no longer has issues letting her husband have input when she is organising the house.
CONTENT WARNING: Pet Death
When I was young, we had many dogs and cats, and they all got along. The reality is that their lifetimes are shorter than ours, so you have to say the big goodbye eventually, and sometimes if they are in pain, they have to be put down. It’s sad, but one always tries to remember the good times.
We had one dog who lived to about fifteen or sixteen. I had moved away for college when this happened. She was unable to walk, had become incontinent, and was not happy. The decision was made to take her to the vet to be “put to sleep”.
The night before, my mum had a plate of raw liver on the counter ready to be cooked. One of the cats jumped onto the counter and swiped it to the floor, right in front of the doomed doggo. As liver was one of her favourite foods, she scarfed it down in seconds.
Mum wasn’t mad.
Mum: “It’s like they know. And at least her last meal was what she would have wanted.”
And yes, as much as I love them, cats are aliens.
