When I was growing up my family was dirt poor. My sad worked 12 hours 6 days a week and would come home right as we were getting ready for school. He would obviously be exhausted from working non-stop but he would insist on walking with us to the bus stop 5 blocks away to see us off to school. He did this on a daily basis until we graduated from highschool. It wasn’t until I got into the workforce that I realized just how exhausted my father had to be. It wasn’t much time but my father made sure that we got to see him for at least that little bit everyday.
My grandmother who raised me as a kid. She died horribly though. So that impacted me a lot and it always hurts knowing I inadvertedly screwed her over.
My husband showering before he came to bed because he’s been in a pub and at that time you could smoke indoors. I was pregnant and couldn’t stand the smell, so he showered, slipped and knocked himself out in the shower. Woke up came to bed and didn’t say a word about it until I commented on his bump a few days later. Love is doing things for people even if they don’t notice
I couldn’t get a free coffee that we had vouchers for when I worked at a school, but I don’t drink coffee, but in passing I told another assistant like I was that hot chocolate is nice because it was cold out that was the end of it. So she went and got a voucher, and got me a hot chocolate and brought it into the classroom for me. I didn’t make it a big deal, I had kids to take care of but I thought it was just really thoughtful of her.
A family that we knew bought us an entire month’s worth of groceries. We honestly didn’t need the help financially speaking and they did not have a whole lot themselves, but they didn’t want us to worry about having to grocery shop while we mourned. It’s always stuck with me.
Also when my dad died, a new neighbor up the street who we didn’t know in the slightest just walked his lawn mower down and cut our grass for us a couple times. He didn’t seek any recognition and was a man of few words. He just said “I just heard you guys might need some help”. This is the smaller act of the two, but it has made an equal impact on me because he had zero reason to do it.
My new car had broken down 6 hours from my home and I was with someone and we had only been dating a few months, after 5 hours on the hard shoulder the car company put us up in a very fancy b and b with a lovely roll top bath in front of a lovely fire, I was tired and upset, he ran the bath, I got in with a glass of wine, and he suddenly came over to me and washed my hair!!!!!! Let me tell you, still makes me cry.
My best friends dad saying, “I love you guys, all you guys”, clearly including me, before leaving for the day. I was 12, no one had ever said that to me before. It felt really nice. The memory will be with me forever.
To be clear, my parents weren’t terrible people, but weren’t very affectionate, at all, ever.
I (woman) work closely with two men. We have been a team for 3 years now at our current job and we worked closely for 5 years at our previous job.
I have zero doubt that we love each other platonically but we don’t say it and we do not hug or anything like that. We’re all married and respectful of that fact.
One year after a Christmas party we were outside a bar and a fight broke out. My two male workmates instinctively shielded me. One stepped in front of me, the other put his arm across me and pulled me behind them.
It’s hard to describe but I felt so much love in that moment.
During covid I had to go into hospital for a biopsy and procedure. I suffer very badly with health anxiety and anxious in general and was dreading it. My husband wasn’t allowed in due to covid rules at the time so he dropped me off, then parked outside the hospital (making sure I could see the car from the room I was in window!)
He waited there all day until I was able to go home. (I think about 7 hours!)
One of 1000s of ridiculously lovely things he does for me but I’ll never forget this one.
I was in the hospital for viral meningitis. I was in isolation for 2 months. The only physical contact I had with anyone was when they’d change my IV. My husband drove about 25 miles (in heavy traffic) to come and see me. It meant so much because he absolutely despises going anywhere after work!
A man bought dinner for my mother, brother, and I on a train from New York to Connecticut the day my four year old cousin died choking. My mother was not well, we were not either, and we had left New York immediately to go to our family. I think he saw my mom crying. He didn’t ask if we needed anything, he just brought us the food and it was one of the most kind things I’ve ever experienced. It was about twenty years ago and just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye.
I had cancer and my principal not only protected my job but creates a non- classroom position for me to come back to so I didn’t use all my sick time. Total class act
After I had my first c-section and was holding my son, my very best friend came to visit. I could barely move. She asked if she could brush my hair for me. I must have been a post birth mess. It was such a love filled gesture. I’ll never forget it.
When I first moved out for college my dad would drop off food, groceries, and other toiletries at my apartment after he just finished a 14 hour shift. Even though he’s a busy guy he always tried to make time for me in the smallest ways. I love you dad!
Someone knew that i get anxious when the they put mask and neck and helmet while go karting so he said the trainer i will do it for her and he did one step asked me to breathe and told helmet i will put when we reach the track and he made me calm down
I never grew up with a lot of attention or affection from my parents. My sister had a lot of health issues growing up and I was often alone and became self-sufficient at home.
When I was in college, a girl I dated made me lunch at her apartment without telling me she was going to. I remember my heart melting in that moment that someone would do something like that only because they liked me. I remember being so surprised and thinking “she did that for me?”
In retrospect, that’s such a silly thing to be effected by, but 14 years later I still look back in that lunch fondly.
My dad who since passed a few years ago. He gave me a birthday card when I was 17. I’m 40s now. I still have it. I will never let it go. It’s just a piece of paper that reminds me how much he loves me. I was also the only of his 4 boys to not get a car on our 17th. Puts life in perspective. I still have the card. The cars are gone. I got way better mileage out of the card. Big presents mean absolutely nothing. 😆
I had a 10 hour surgery and I was in the hospital for a week. My husband slept on the hard window bench and took care of my surgical drains and charted everything. Later when I got lymphedema, he went with me to PT to learn the lymphatic massage procedure. I have metastatic cancer, and he has maybe only missed 5 appointments in the last 8 years. I don’t really need someone to be there for most of them, but he makes sure I’m not alone, because I don’t have anyone else I’m close enough to that I would ask. Our neighbor also mowed our lawn with his riding mower at the same time he did his all summer the first year I was sick. When I offered to pay him, he said no we had enough to worry about. We’ve moved since and I miss our old neighborhood a lot.
Some youngsters (toddlers thru kindergarten, perhaps?) may have the tendency to pick small flowers from patches of lil flowering plants that grow amidst the grass and give them to their mother. My youngest son was no different. He’d pick a few on his way in the house after the school bus dropped him off and occasionally when outdoor playing with friends. I’d always make a big deal by immediately placing the flowers in a small cup of water and setting the cup on a window sill or as the center of our dining table, etc. For most moms, this young child act of love usually ends as they begin to age. My son continued to pick me these lil flowers every now and again.
As he aged to around 10/11-ish, and began to learn how to use a mower and cut the grass, I would hear the mower shout down and he’d knock on my office window holding up lil flowers he’d picked from the grass – I’d open my window – and he’d present them to me. I still made a big deal about grabbing a lil cup of water, setting the flowers in, and setting the cup in an area of the house where it could be seen front and center.
Then, he hit high school and cutting the grass became his responsibility. We live in a 4 season state, and while the flower picking and giving waned a bit, he’d still pick me lil flowers from the yard a few times a season, knock on my office window, present them to me, and I didnt make AS big a deal, but when he’d completed the chore & came in the house, there were the lil flowers in a small glass.
He just recently turned 21. He also just recently cut the grass for the first time this season. And I have a small glass on the window sill with the lil flowers he picked from the yard.
My autistic teenage son is lactose intolerant. One day we were at an event at our local library where they were getting the teens to make their own boba teas, and in the middle of finishing his my son has a shocked look on his face and says that he forgot about his dairy intolerance (he was drinking a milk tea).
I honestly thought he had a non-dairy one as they had both coconut milk and almond milk available.
The librarian left and came back with some lactaid chewables for him. Saved him from a painful afternoon. She was so kind and he was so grateful 🥲
I was determined to shop a Black Friday sale starting at 3am. My boyfriend said it was not a good idea. I went anyway. After shopping for 2 hours my blood sugar dropped and I became disoriented. I wondered around the chaotic store in a confused daze. Just when I was about to collapse in a heap I felt someone take my arm. My boyfriend had come to the store looking for me. I’ll never forget how I felt when I saw him.
During Covid, a year after my sister (who lived an hour away) had cancer while pregnant, the isolation from my family was taking a toll on my mental health and my now husband, boyfriend of 6 months at the time, took the afternoon off as emergency annual leave to collect me from work and drive me to visit my sister and family (with their consent) when I rang him from work crying. He was so selfless. I’m still so grateful.
I was diagnosed with MS at 21 after a week of running tests and scans at the hospital. I shared a room with the sweetest old lady. She had cancer.
When my neurologist broke the news to me I happened to be alone (every day my mom would come by) and I was quietly crying in my hospital bed. The older lady’s daughter heard what’d happened and when she came in and saw me sobbing she didn’t say anything, just gently rubbed my leg over the covers as an act of comfort i guess? I was too emotional and numb at the time to appreciate the gesture but everytime I remember that little thing she did I get teary eyed. Her mother died a few months after that.
When I first met my girlfriend I was twenty one. My father died before I was born and then my mother died of cancer when I was 6 so I lived with my uncle and his wife until I was eighteen. When I was drunk one night i’d recounted to my girlfriend how my mother would make me tea, then stroke my hair until I slept every night because we lived on a very busy, noisy street and our walls were thin. One night after we got back from a long walk through the city, she made me a cup of hot chocolate and stroked my hair until I slept. It was as if i’d forgotten my innocence since my mother died and suddenly I remembered what it was like to be a child. I slept the best I had in 15 years and to this day my girlfriend occasionally does the same for me.
My dad yelling “THATS MY BOY” at my baseball game.
He worked so much. He didn’t always catch the games. I told him not to say anything when he was there because if I knew he was there, I’d get really nervous about it. He agreed to be silent and hidden. I had a really, really bad rut for a few games. Just couldn’t hit the damn ball to save my life.
One day I knocked the fire out of that bitch. The sound of that bright orange metal bat is tattooed on my brain. 17 years later. It flew so far into the outfield it was a guaranteed inside the park for me. Hearing him say that almost made me cry. He was there for me. He was so proud he couldn’t contain himself. He was quiet when I struck out so many times. I remember the times I’d see him as we were leaving and felt like a failure. His pep talks would make me feel worse.
That day I felt like a million bucks. Not only did we win and I finally did well, he saw the whole thing.
When I started dating after getting divorced, a girl liked my profile and we started talking on the app. We clicked really well and started texting the same day. Ended up spending 3 hrs on the phone that evening, met twice over the weekend and had a really great connection. Very similar in so many ways, many of which I’d never experienced with someone else.
We hung out a lot for the next few weeks, talked every day, and it was going pretty well. I’d never related to someone so well, and she seemed to not have either. She was hesitant to label the relationship then, but I didn’t mind since it was only a few weeks in.
Then, over literally a day or two, I could tell something was up and checked in with her. She told me all this stuff about why (suddenly) she didn’t think we’d work well together and that I shouldn’t just date her even though she wanted to be friends. I was hurt and confused, figured it was her trying to gently let me down, but I could also admit to myself that she and I always felt more like old friends than romantic partners, so we remained friends.
A week or so later, she tells me that she had feelings for a guy she’d be seeing for a while and felt bad for not telling me the truth. She told me she wasn’t dating anyone else, so I was hurt that she lied about that. Turns out, she’d been this guy’s side-chick for several months and they’d developed a close bond that worked for both of them, because they’re both afraid of commitment but want closeness. Classic DA stuff and all that.
Obviously, I was hurt, but I really did appreciate and respect her telling me the truth. I’m definitely on the spectrum, am pretty direct, and I struggle a lot with understanding social things, which she knew. Being let down gently has always hurt way worse than being told the truth, because I actually want to do better if there is something I can improve in myself.
Had she left things at “we just aren’t a good fit and here’s why”, that would have hurt much more than knowing the real reason. She told me she was wrong for how she handled things, she knew it was wrong but couldn’t shake the fear that came with thinking about something serious with me, so she basically self-sabotaged. Overall, she was just very positive about how well I treated her, how good of a guy I was, realizing I’d have ruminated over what I must’ve done wrong had she not told me the truth.
I don’t know how much of her honesty was to soothe her own conscious and how much was actually wanting to not hurt me, but I respected what she did either way. It can be hard to be honest, and it’s really fucking hard to be honest after lying.
Maybe that’s not a typical act of love, but I view truly loving someone as trying to be honest with them, even when it’s difficult or hurtful. So this one will always stand out to me.
Our grandpa gave the “toast to the bride” at my sisters’ weddings, but passed away before I got married.
My sister pulled audio from her wedding video to make me a tape of our grandpa giving me the toast to the bride. It was a huge surprise and so incredible to hear his voice at my wedding.
An ex of mine reading up on Star Wars and trying to learn all about it, so she could know as much as she could so she could really enjoy the premiere of the new Star Wars movie we had tickets for, and so she could hopefully talk to me afterwards about some of the smaller details.
She spent ages going through stuff she thought might be important, and whenever I’d come close or try to suggest something or say she didn’t need to do this she’d shush me away.
Mine actually came from a stranger. I was having a very bad day, definitely the worst day that year, possibly the worst day in several years, and I got on a bus to go face my consequences. I somehow ended up chatting with a woman, and I don’t remember a single thing from that conversation, it couldn’t have lasted more than 5 minutes, but I just remmeber that at the end she said “may God be with you”
I cried when I got off the bus. I’m not religious anymore, and I wasn’t even that religious back then, but something about the way she said it and the kindness behind the words really stuck with me. Gosh, that happened probably around a decade ago, and I still think of her every once in a while.
Went grocery shopping a few days after chemotherapy and underestimated how weak I’d be feeling. Had trouble opening the hatchback with a cart full of groceries. A man coming out of the store saw me standing in my chemo cap ready to collapse and quietly loaded my car, closed the hatch and walked away. Never said a word. When I got in my car to rest a minute and leave, he was gone. Gone, gone. Disappeared. I think he was an angel.
When my dad was in the hospital, dying, my dog came up to me and gave me a heart-shaped chew toy that said, “You make my tail wag.” It’s almost like she knew.
When I was in college in the early 90s,i got a job babysitting a 4yr old and her one yr old sister. Right away this family welcomed and embraced me as part of the family. I was a young, foreign student in a strange country. I worked for them for the next 6 yrs until I went back to my home country. I went back for one of the daughters Bat Mitzvah in 2002 and didn’t see them again until early this month. We kept in touch through the years, the oldest daughter came to visit in Jan 2024. A few months ago I got a plane ticket from the family to come visit them for 3 weeks. I just got back home from the US and it was the best time I’ve had in a long time. This is how much this family loves and appreciates our relationship. I’m forever grateful to have them in my life.
Laying in bed with my new gf after years of being touch starved and unloved, her cuddling putting her head in my chest and falling asleep it doesn’t sound like much but it was a lot for me at the time, we aren’t together anymore but we’re still friends and we still both care about each other.
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My husband had some ancient cine camera footage of me as a toddler transferred to DVD as a surprise 🥰
Someone kept a stupid drawing I did of them for a while
Sharing music together. Me and my SO used to do it all the time because we’re those “listen to all music genres” kind of people so anythings a go
When I was growing up my family was dirt poor. My sad worked 12 hours 6 days a week and would come home right as we were getting ready for school. He would obviously be exhausted from working non-stop but he would insist on walking with us to the bus stop 5 blocks away to see us off to school. He did this on a daily basis until we graduated from highschool. It wasn’t until I got into the workforce that I realized just how exhausted my father had to be. It wasn’t much time but my father made sure that we got to see him for at least that little bit everyday.
My grandmother who raised me as a kid. She died horribly though. So that impacted me a lot and it always hurts knowing I inadvertedly screwed her over.
My husband showering before he came to bed because he’s been in a pub and at that time you could smoke indoors. I was pregnant and couldn’t stand the smell, so he showered, slipped and knocked himself out in the shower. Woke up came to bed and didn’t say a word about it until I commented on his bump a few days later. Love is doing things for people even if they don’t notice
I couldn’t get a free coffee that we had vouchers for when I worked at a school, but I don’t drink coffee, but in passing I told another assistant like I was that hot chocolate is nice because it was cold out that was the end of it. So she went and got a voucher, and got me a hot chocolate and brought it into the classroom for me. I didn’t make it a big deal, I had kids to take care of but I thought it was just really thoughtful of her.
My dad passed away when I was 15.
A family that we knew bought us an entire month’s worth of groceries. We honestly didn’t need the help financially speaking and they did not have a whole lot themselves, but they didn’t want us to worry about having to grocery shop while we mourned. It’s always stuck with me.
Also when my dad died, a new neighbor up the street who we didn’t know in the slightest just walked his lawn mower down and cut our grass for us a couple times. He didn’t seek any recognition and was a man of few words. He just said “I just heard you guys might need some help”. This is the smaller act of the two, but it has made an equal impact on me because he had zero reason to do it.
Someone making me soup and sitting with me when I was sick, without even asking.
It was just quiet support, but meant the world. ❤️
My new car had broken down 6 hours from my home and I was with someone and we had only been dating a few months, after 5 hours on the hard shoulder the car company put us up in a very fancy b and b with a lovely roll top bath in front of a lovely fire, I was tired and upset, he ran the bath, I got in with a glass of wine, and he suddenly came over to me and washed my hair!!!!!! Let me tell you, still makes me cry.
My best friends dad saying, “I love you guys, all you guys”, clearly including me, before leaving for the day. I was 12, no one had ever said that to me before. It felt really nice. The memory will be with me forever.
To be clear, my parents weren’t terrible people, but weren’t very affectionate, at all, ever.
A stranger offering to share his umbrella for some distance during heavy downpour.
Next time you put up a sign include image of a pair of eyes.
I (woman) work closely with two men. We have been a team for 3 years now at our current job and we worked closely for 5 years at our previous job.
I have zero doubt that we love each other platonically but we don’t say it and we do not hug or anything like that. We’re all married and respectful of that fact.
One year after a Christmas party we were outside a bar and a fight broke out. My two male workmates instinctively shielded me. One stepped in front of me, the other put his arm across me and pulled me behind them.
It’s hard to describe but I felt so much love in that moment.
During covid I had to go into hospital for a biopsy and procedure. I suffer very badly with health anxiety and anxious in general and was dreading it. My husband wasn’t allowed in due to covid rules at the time so he dropped me off, then parked outside the hospital (making sure I could see the car from the room I was in window!)
He waited there all day until I was able to go home. (I think about 7 hours!)
One of 1000s of ridiculously lovely things he does for me but I’ll never forget this one.
I don’t know if this counts as small, but:
I was in the hospital for viral meningitis. I was in isolation for 2 months. The only physical contact I had with anyone was when they’d change my IV. My husband drove about 25 miles (in heavy traffic) to come and see me. It meant so much because he absolutely despises going anywhere after work!
A man bought dinner for my mother, brother, and I on a train from New York to Connecticut the day my four year old cousin died choking. My mother was not well, we were not either, and we had left New York immediately to go to our family. I think he saw my mom crying. He didn’t ask if we needed anything, he just brought us the food and it was one of the most kind things I’ve ever experienced. It was about twenty years ago and just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye.
I had cancer and my principal not only protected my job but creates a non- classroom position for me to come back to so I didn’t use all my sick time. Total class act
After I had my first c-section and was holding my son, my very best friend came to visit. I could barely move. She asked if she could brush my hair for me. I must have been a post birth mess. It was such a love filled gesture. I’ll never forget it.
When I first moved out for college my dad would drop off food, groceries, and other toiletries at my apartment after he just finished a 14 hour shift. Even though he’s a busy guy he always tried to make time for me in the smallest ways. I love you dad!
Someone knew that i get anxious when the they put mask and neck and helmet while go karting so he said the trainer i will do it for her and he did one step asked me to breathe and told helmet i will put when we reach the track and he made me calm down
I never feel loved by a girl. And I have nothing
I never grew up with a lot of attention or affection from my parents. My sister had a lot of health issues growing up and I was often alone and became self-sufficient at home.
When I was in college, a girl I dated made me lunch at her apartment without telling me she was going to. I remember my heart melting in that moment that someone would do something like that only because they liked me. I remember being so surprised and thinking “she did that for me?”
In retrospect, that’s such a silly thing to be effected by, but 14 years later I still look back in that lunch fondly.
My dad holding my hair back for me and wiping my forehead and neck with a cool damp cloth and rubbing my back when I was sick to my stomach
My dad who since passed a few years ago. He gave me a birthday card when I was 17. I’m 40s now. I still have it. I will never let it go. It’s just a piece of paper that reminds me how much he loves me. I was also the only of his 4 boys to not get a car on our 17th. Puts life in perspective. I still have the card. The cars are gone. I got way better mileage out of the card. Big presents mean absolutely nothing. 😆
I had a 10 hour surgery and I was in the hospital for a week. My husband slept on the hard window bench and took care of my surgical drains and charted everything. Later when I got lymphedema, he went with me to PT to learn the lymphatic massage procedure. I have metastatic cancer, and he has maybe only missed 5 appointments in the last 8 years. I don’t really need someone to be there for most of them, but he makes sure I’m not alone, because I don’t have anyone else I’m close enough to that I would ask. Our neighbor also mowed our lawn with his riding mower at the same time he did his all summer the first year I was sick. When I offered to pay him, he said no we had enough to worry about. We’ve moved since and I miss our old neighborhood a lot.
I may not remember what was cleaned up, but that they cleaned it up.
Some youngsters (toddlers thru kindergarten, perhaps?) may have the tendency to pick small flowers from patches of lil flowering plants that grow amidst the grass and give them to their mother. My youngest son was no different. He’d pick a few on his way in the house after the school bus dropped him off and occasionally when outdoor playing with friends. I’d always make a big deal by immediately placing the flowers in a small cup of water and setting the cup on a window sill or as the center of our dining table, etc. For most moms, this young child act of love usually ends as they begin to age. My son continued to pick me these lil flowers every now and again.
As he aged to around 10/11-ish, and began to learn how to use a mower and cut the grass, I would hear the mower shout down and he’d knock on my office window holding up lil flowers he’d picked from the grass – I’d open my window – and he’d present them to me. I still made a big deal about grabbing a lil cup of water, setting the flowers in, and setting the cup in an area of the house where it could be seen front and center.
Then, he hit high school and cutting the grass became his responsibility. We live in a 4 season state, and while the flower picking and giving waned a bit, he’d still pick me lil flowers from the yard a few times a season, knock on my office window, present them to me, and I didnt make AS big a deal, but when he’d completed the chore & came in the house, there were the lil flowers in a small glass.
He just recently turned 21. He also just recently cut the grass for the first time this season. And I have a small glass on the window sill with the lil flowers he picked from the yard.
Be still my heart!
My autistic teenage son is lactose intolerant. One day we were at an event at our local library where they were getting the teens to make their own boba teas, and in the middle of finishing his my son has a shocked look on his face and says that he forgot about his dairy intolerance (he was drinking a milk tea).
I honestly thought he had a non-dairy one as they had both coconut milk and almond milk available.
The librarian left and came back with some lactaid chewables for him. Saved him from a painful afternoon. She was so kind and he was so grateful 🥲
I was determined to shop a Black Friday sale starting at 3am. My boyfriend said it was not a good idea. I went anyway. After shopping for 2 hours my blood sugar dropped and I became disoriented. I wondered around the chaotic store in a confused daze. Just when I was about to collapse in a heap I felt someone take my arm. My boyfriend had come to the store looking for me. I’ll never forget how I felt when I saw him.
Apparently, a picture reminds us that we are being watched.
Showing up to help my pack my things to finally leave my abusive boyfriend.
During Covid, a year after my sister (who lived an hour away) had cancer while pregnant, the isolation from my family was taking a toll on my mental health and my now husband, boyfriend of 6 months at the time, took the afternoon off as emergency annual leave to collect me from work and drive me to visit my sister and family (with their consent) when I rang him from work crying. He was so selfless. I’m still so grateful.
I was diagnosed with MS at 21 after a week of running tests and scans at the hospital. I shared a room with the sweetest old lady. She had cancer.
When my neurologist broke the news to me I happened to be alone (every day my mom would come by) and I was quietly crying in my hospital bed. The older lady’s daughter heard what’d happened and when she came in and saw me sobbing she didn’t say anything, just gently rubbed my leg over the covers as an act of comfort i guess? I was too emotional and numb at the time to appreciate the gesture but everytime I remember that little thing she did I get teary eyed. Her mother died a few months after that.
When I first met my girlfriend I was twenty one. My father died before I was born and then my mother died of cancer when I was 6 so I lived with my uncle and his wife until I was eighteen. When I was drunk one night i’d recounted to my girlfriend how my mother would make me tea, then stroke my hair until I slept every night because we lived on a very busy, noisy street and our walls were thin. One night after we got back from a long walk through the city, she made me a cup of hot chocolate and stroked my hair until I slept. It was as if i’d forgotten my innocence since my mother died and suddenly I remembered what it was like to be a child. I slept the best I had in 15 years and to this day my girlfriend occasionally does the same for me.
My dad yelling “THATS MY BOY” at my baseball game.
He worked so much. He didn’t always catch the games. I told him not to say anything when he was there because if I knew he was there, I’d get really nervous about it. He agreed to be silent and hidden. I had a really, really bad rut for a few games. Just couldn’t hit the damn ball to save my life.
One day I knocked the fire out of that bitch. The sound of that bright orange metal bat is tattooed on my brain. 17 years later. It flew so far into the outfield it was a guaranteed inside the park for me. Hearing him say that almost made me cry. He was there for me. He was so proud he couldn’t contain himself. He was quiet when I struck out so many times. I remember the times I’d see him as we were leaving and felt like a failure. His pep talks would make me feel worse.
That day I felt like a million bucks. Not only did we win and I finally did well, he saw the whole thing.
When I started dating after getting divorced, a girl liked my profile and we started talking on the app. We clicked really well and started texting the same day. Ended up spending 3 hrs on the phone that evening, met twice over the weekend and had a really great connection. Very similar in so many ways, many of which I’d never experienced with someone else.
We hung out a lot for the next few weeks, talked every day, and it was going pretty well. I’d never related to someone so well, and she seemed to not have either. She was hesitant to label the relationship then, but I didn’t mind since it was only a few weeks in.
Then, over literally a day or two, I could tell something was up and checked in with her. She told me all this stuff about why (suddenly) she didn’t think we’d work well together and that I shouldn’t just date her even though she wanted to be friends. I was hurt and confused, figured it was her trying to gently let me down, but I could also admit to myself that she and I always felt more like old friends than romantic partners, so we remained friends.
A week or so later, she tells me that she had feelings for a guy she’d be seeing for a while and felt bad for not telling me the truth. She told me she wasn’t dating anyone else, so I was hurt that she lied about that. Turns out, she’d been this guy’s side-chick for several months and they’d developed a close bond that worked for both of them, because they’re both afraid of commitment but want closeness. Classic DA stuff and all that.
Obviously, I was hurt, but I really did appreciate and respect her telling me the truth. I’m definitely on the spectrum, am pretty direct, and I struggle a lot with understanding social things, which she knew. Being let down gently has always hurt way worse than being told the truth, because I actually want to do better if there is something I can improve in myself.
Had she left things at “we just aren’t a good fit and here’s why”, that would have hurt much more than knowing the real reason. She told me she was wrong for how she handled things, she knew it was wrong but couldn’t shake the fear that came with thinking about something serious with me, so she basically self-sabotaged. Overall, she was just very positive about how well I treated her, how good of a guy I was, realizing I’d have ruminated over what I must’ve done wrong had she not told me the truth.
I don’t know how much of her honesty was to soothe her own conscious and how much was actually wanting to not hurt me, but I respected what she did either way. It can be hard to be honest, and it’s really fucking hard to be honest after lying.
Maybe that’s not a typical act of love, but I view truly loving someone as trying to be honest with them, even when it’s difficult or hurtful. So this one will always stand out to me.
Our grandpa gave the “toast to the bride” at my sisters’ weddings, but passed away before I got married.
My sister pulled audio from her wedding video to make me a tape of our grandpa giving me the toast to the bride. It was a huge surprise and so incredible to hear his voice at my wedding.
Being remembered, considered or thought of fondly
An ex of mine reading up on Star Wars and trying to learn all about it, so she could know as much as she could so she could really enjoy the premiere of the new Star Wars movie we had tickets for, and so she could hopefully talk to me afterwards about some of the smaller details.
She spent ages going through stuff she thought might be important, and whenever I’d come close or try to suggest something or say she didn’t need to do this she’d shush me away.
It was super sweet of her.
Mine actually came from a stranger. I was having a very bad day, definitely the worst day that year, possibly the worst day in several years, and I got on a bus to go face my consequences. I somehow ended up chatting with a woman, and I don’t remember a single thing from that conversation, it couldn’t have lasted more than 5 minutes, but I just remmeber that at the end she said “may God be with you”
I cried when I got off the bus. I’m not religious anymore, and I wasn’t even that religious back then, but something about the way she said it and the kindness behind the words really stuck with me. Gosh, that happened probably around a decade ago, and I still think of her every once in a while.
Went grocery shopping a few days after chemotherapy and underestimated how weak I’d be feeling. Had trouble opening the hatchback with a cart full of groceries. A man coming out of the store saw me standing in my chemo cap ready to collapse and quietly loaded my car, closed the hatch and walked away. Never said a word. When I got in my car to rest a minute and leave, he was gone. Gone, gone. Disappeared. I think he was an angel.
When my dad was in the hospital, dying, my dog came up to me and gave me a heart-shaped chew toy that said, “You make my tail wag.” It’s almost like she knew.
When I was in college in the early 90s,i got a job babysitting a 4yr old and her one yr old sister. Right away this family welcomed and embraced me as part of the family. I was a young, foreign student in a strange country. I worked for them for the next 6 yrs until I went back to my home country. I went back for one of the daughters Bat Mitzvah in 2002 and didn’t see them again until early this month. We kept in touch through the years, the oldest daughter came to visit in Jan 2024. A few months ago I got a plane ticket from the family to come visit them for 3 weeks. I just got back home from the US and it was the best time I’ve had in a long time. This is how much this family loves and appreciates our relationship. I’m forever grateful to have them in my life.
I can’t think of one off-hand, but I wanted to say what a feel-good post this is.😊
When Faith used to bring me her ball and always used to want to be around me. 💔🌈🐈⬛
Laying in bed with my new gf after years of being touch starved and unloved, her cuddling putting her head in my chest and falling asleep it doesn’t sound like much but it was a lot for me at the time, we aren’t together anymore but we’re still friends and we still both care about each other.