Oklahoma Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Random kindnesses
I just got a message from a nestie that I don't even know telling me how cute my dog is (in my sig) and asking what type of dog she was. I promptly turned into a pile of mush and was tickled pink that a stranger felt she needed to tell me that. So, naturally I overcompensated and practically gave her my dog's life history. 
What types of things have strangers said or done for you that just gave you warm fuzzies? I love hearing stories like this, and I'm thinking probably a lot of others do as well.
Re: Random kindnesses
When M was a few months old H and I went out to lunch with her while V was at mother's day out. We were eating a looking at her (I can remember the waitress saying something about how we watched her sleep like she was a tv) and the waitress came over and told us that another customer had paid for our lunch. Our meal wasn't very expensive, but it meant to much to us that someone did that for us. It was just totally unexpected and kind. We keep meaning to pay it forward, but also keep forgetting. I think we will do it during our weekly lunch next week though.
I always underestimate what a compliment from a stranger can do. I always get compliments at the grocery store like "I love your coat!" or last week in a doctors office the nurses were oogling over my hair and asking all about how I curl it so. When I get these compliments they just remind me that I need to give them more often, because I never give strangers compliments.
I think we should do a post tomorrow challenging everyone to do a random act of kindness for someone and then we can share to give each other ideas. OK... I'm being the emotional over achiever. But I think it'd be cute... I think random acts of kindness are fun!
It's rare that I interact with strangers, really...but occasional compliments from students is always uplifting, considering teenagers are rare to point out the nicer things in life
The other day I had a student tell me I looked pretty. It oddly meant a lot to me. I felt prettier that day, too, and it was nice that someone noticed.
Another day a student told me I "dress like a journalist." Considering I normally feel kind of frumpy, again, that meant a lot.
My "baby" journalists had to write their first feature (it's always over me so I can fact-check and be in the interview with them) and they have to find three sources for their article. There were some very nice things said about me by both colleagues and students. Be still my heart.
This morning I had two unsolicited plugs for my photography from a family member and a high school friend... Which was very kind.
When DH and I were on our honeymoon in Cozumel, our last night there we went into town and had a REALLY nice dinner with another couple. Before we even ordered, the woman sitting at the table next to me leaned over and said, "We had someone do this for us on our honeymoon 15 years ago, and now we want to do the same for you..." and handed us a $100 bill.
I love when people pay it forward.
My friend's mother is the kind of person who, upon seeing you, gives 3 compliments immediately... And she is SO warm and generous about it. We played Bunco the other night and when I got there she gave me a big hug, told me I was having an amazing hair day, that I looked beautiful, and that it was a treat getting to see me. Of course she did the same thing to everyone who showed up, but she never makes it seem forced or rehearsed. I need to be more like that....
Those are awesome.
I always, always, always get compliments about JJ. It makes me smile.
The other day, I went to pick up my bridesmaid dress for my college roommate's wedding. It's a corset dress, so it's obvious [to me] that if I want to make the thing work and be able to eat/dance/sit/breathe at the wedding, I have weight to lose. The person who helped me tie the dress up said I looked amazing in it and that out of all the bridesmaids [there's four of us], I looked the best in the dress. That made me feel awesome.
I LOVE to give people compliments. I try to give one compliment every morning when walking from my car to work - in all reality, its a really selfish thing to do because when you compliment someone randomly like that, their entire face lights up and it makes me feel so good. And I like knowing that maybe, in some way, I have helped to make their day a tad more entertaining.
Back in September M and I were flying back home from visiting my parents. M was so tired but was refusing to sleep so she was getting pretty frustrated. Stupid me I had forgot my phone at home with all the running around I was doing that morning. I have some music and games uploaded on the phone and it generally calms her down.
There was a very sweet lady sitting beside us who was a mother herself. She very kindly let M play with her phone for awhile so M would calm down. I was really taken back how sweet she was to let a little kid who she didn't know play with her phone. It really helped out because I'm sure no one what to hear M scream for the next 30 minutes as we were landing.
Great thread!
When my mom and I were in Chicago a month ago, we stopped to have a quick dinner at a restaurant, and in there we ran into a bunch of her old classmates who were having dinner too. When we asked our waitress for the bill, she said it had been taken care of already. I was really impressed with that... in fact, one of the guys now lives in Norman and is a vet, so I've been considering switching vets so Blackie can go to him. I would love to be able to give him my business.
When I lived in Chicago (before various tollway passes became more common than paying in change), I would sometimes pay for the person behind me at the toll booth. It was always fun and made me feel good to know that even if it was only 50 cents, it would (hopefully) make someone smile and feel grateful.
my bookshelf!
Bloggy
Aw, I love all these stories!
I'm a big fan of paying compliments, too. It doesn't cost me anything and it's so worth it to add a little extra confidence to someone's day. Usually I compliment peoples' shoes, because I'm always looking at them, and you can just tell when someone else likes shoes as well.
This is such a good thread!
This isn't about me but my cousin was at Walmart the other night and they lady infront of her that was paying was short $21, so my cousin spoke up and said, don't worry about it, I'll pay for you! I thought that was very kind for a struggling college student to do! It just really made me realize that if more people were like that then maybe the world wouldn't be so bad after all.
A little more than a year ago I was having a terrible day, I was borderline in one of my classes and needed to do very well on the final to pass and graduate, keep my job and get the sign on bonus to pay off my loans. If I didn't pass the class, I would have to wait a year to retake it and in the meantime I wouldn't have been able to keep the job and the student loans would've gone into active payment.
DH's car starts acting up at the gas station on base, I'm practically in tears at this point, he's still in Iraq and I have no one that I can even call to come help me. An elderly gentlemen walks over and asks if he can take a look at the car. He figures out the problem, tells me how to fix it if it happens again and somehow we started talking about DH being overseas and my situation with school.
He was so kind, he said that he had no doubt I would ace the final and that DH would come home safe and all would be right again for me. I'm not a touchy person but he leaned forward to hug me and it just melted my heart. He was right of course, all was well in a few months and I have never forgotten his kindness.