Family, Food, Stories, Uncategorized

Spilt Coffee

23 Comments

At Caribou this morning Nonny and I spilt an entire cup of coffee while navigating the “add cream and sugar” part of the transaction. Very quickly two gals jumped in to help, with napkins and a little towel that one of them asked staff for.  Between us we wiped and wiped and eventually got it all cleaned up.  I thanked them profusely and asked them if they would come later to my house and do my kitchen floor.  One of them stopped at our table a bit later as she was leaving to say “have a nice day” and Nonny was surprised to realize that she wasn’t an employee.  I said they were both just innocent helpful bystanders – which had made me all the more thankful at the time.

What the last kindness someone did for you?

23 thoughts on “Spilt Coffee”

  1. An older couple ince approached me while I was struggling with my Baby (who was 2yrs) and a big bag. They told me they wanted to help because they have kids and they know it’s not easy handling them, I was truly touched, bless them.

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  3. So many kindness recently. People bring me food – tomorrow my sister will bring me pumpkin pie and cranberry relish, and I will pull out a friend’s wild rice hotdish from the freezer so will have a wonderful meal for Thanksgiving with no work from me.

    Yesterday someone I met at my WomenVenture class visited me and I had a great time with her. She’s very different from me in some ways but similar in others and I truly enjoyed her visit.

    I have a friend who will text me a couple times a week “thinking of you.” She also cleaned up my yard this fall and has brought me food and sat and chatted with me several times.

    Then there’s my oldest and youngest daughters who came from far away to help me deal with things that I was having trouble doing on my own. The big things were applying for Social Security disability and creating a health care directive. Thanks to them, those got done, as well as several other things. And my friend from Vermont came on her way to northern MN and stocked my freezer with muffins and main dishes.

    Many people visit my caringbridge site. Some leave comments that are so encouraging; but I can see who visits and I am touched to see that so many people care to check in to see how I’m doing even without comments. (This whole thing has made me a big, soppy, sentimental mess.)

    I got a short email from my friend in Vermont yesterday and a sort-of-friend from high school had emailed her and asked her to let me know he’s thinking of me and wishing me the best. (This brings tears to my eyes.) This is someone I haven’t seen from high school but was recently made aware of because of his fine nature photography I’ve seen online in various places.

    I feel like I’m getting way more kindnesses than I deserve (there are even more that I can’t list here lest this comment turn into a book) and I’m thankful.

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        1. Well, I know you showed up to do yard work at my house when I needed it. Actions often speak louder than words. I’m still grateful for all the baboons that showed up that day.

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  4. We are at our son and DIL’s place this week. Their West Highland Terrier thinks it is terribly kind of us to stay home with him so he doesn’t have to be in his crate during the day. He is also enamored of husband who takes him for several walks a day.

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  5. Husband is kindness personified. He helps everyone as much as he can. He sat next to a very very elderly woman on the plan to MPLS on Monday and helped her on and off with her coat and got her bag from the overhead compartment for her.

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  7. Last week I was standing at cash register to pay for my coffee (person I was meeting with hadn’t yet arrived), when I realized I had left my wallet at home. The woman next in line stepped in and offered to pay, and I (gulp) accepted – she said she’d pay it forward, and after thanking her I said I’d do the same. I tried memorizing her face so if the opportunity presents itself, I’ll pay her back, but it might not. Bless her heart.

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    1. At Aldis yesterday it was “wait for someone to come out so you could have their parking spot” crowded. When we snagged a spot, the woman next to us offered us her cart but wouldn’t take the quarter from me. So we gave the cart to someone else when we came out and I didn’t take the quarter from. Little things.

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      1. That’s one of the things I appreciate about shopping at Aldi’s: the opportunity to easily, and at very little expense (25 cents), make a small difference in someone’s life. I do this often, and the response is always positive. Even if you do exchange quarters, it’s an opportunity to interact in a positive way with a fellow shopper.

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  8. OT-In Brookings starting the pre-feast prep by making the black bottom caramel puddings. Apple crisp and cranberry salsa are still to be made. I may need to do to the store for more cream.

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  9. A very, very small thing I try to do is look at a service person, whether a pharmacy tech to a grocery cashier, it to smile and call them by name. It’s amazing how much just hearing your name means.

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    1. You’re so right, Nancy, it’s often the very small gestures that make a difference. If you’re consistently kind, generous, and attentive to your neighbors, friends, coworkers, and people in general, you don’t need big dramatic displays of what a generous and kind person you are. People will know. The opposite is also true, if your big public flourishes, aimed at garnering attention to what a wonderful person you are, are the sole representation of who you are, people will know that, too. I know who the helpers are in my community, and I’m grateful, there are many of them.

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  10. We will be going to friends just up the hill for Thanksgiving today and I am beyond grateful to not have to drive to Iowa (was just there a couple of weekends ago) yet still have a celebratory feast for the s&h.

    We’ve been included in this family for many years (and act as leavening to my friend’s in-laws 😉), so we know all their quirks and disfunctionalities without having to be personally involved.

    Happy Thanksgiving, Baboons!

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    1. MiG… perfect! YA and I also spend Thanksgiving with a family that we adopted (and they adopted us) years and years ago. Will be going up to Maple Grove this year to the house of one of the grown daughters and their kids.

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