People you have met briefly but often think of...

[inthewords]

I took DS to a soft play near me early one morning a few years ago. I got chatting to the most lovely, kind lady whose DH was being treated at a military rehabilitation centre nearby, having suffered life changing injuries in a horrific incident. She told me their story and my heart broke for her. It was quite clear that life was never going to be the same for them again, yet there she was, trying to keep things normal and happy for her little one. Her child was so young and this lady was alone, in a part of the country that was totally unfamiliar to her. We spent an hour talking and putting the world to rights, then went our separate ways.

We met really briefly but I often think of her, her DH and their child and wonder how they are now.

When I was 20, I was on a train. My grandfather had just died suddenly and I was a mess. I got talking to the guy opposite me (about the state of the tea!) and he told me he had found contact details for his father and was about to turn up on his doorstep after years of no contact. He was really kind to me, I often wonder how it went. I hope it was positive.

When I was 15/16 I was on a bus heading into town to meet my mates. The most astonishing good looking (slightly older) teenager got on and sat down next to me. There was an electrifying tension between us and we ultimately, ended up holding hands, whilst staring straight ahead, never speaking a word to each other. We got off at our respective stops and that was that. It was one of the most erotic moments in my life and I often wonder, in a sliding doors way, who he was and what could have been.

When I was pregnant with ds I got a weird spot/cyst thing in my boob and got referred to the breast clinic. After I’d had him I got the good drugs I couldn’t have when pregnant and back to the clinic to check all was well.
I was a bit sleep deprived and not with it and needed to go to the loo in the waiting room, a kind older lady who was a volunteer came to sit next to me and struck up a conversation.
She held my ds while I had a toilet break and she had such a kind manner she made me feel really comfortable and held my baby like she’d done it for years.
I said to her how good she was with kids and then she told me she’d not been able to have any of her own and looked at me with such a sad haunted look that I’ve never been able to forget it or her.

Oh @edwinbear how romantic but sad! It would totally make my heart ache!

I once met a lady who was crying on the train because her friend had died unexpectedly. She was on her way home to call the friend’s parents and fiancé who were in another country. I hope my sympathy made her feel a little less alone.

And I once took a class at university with a truly beautiful girl who I had a total girl crush on. I don’t know her name but I genuinely wanted to be her. I still have the earrings I bought because she had the same ones.

@Pinkyponkcustard

Helped an elderly man lift his shopping onto the belt at the supermarket till and we got chatting. He was buying a lot of cakes which were for his "lady friend". He went on to tell me how he had joined the priesthood when he was very young and was never fulfilled by it. He left it in his 70's and moved into an assisted living community where he met his friend. He was so happy.

Nice looking guy in a pub about 21 years ago (when i was about 19).

We were both at the bar waiting to be served, made eye contact and smiled at each other. He moved closer and just said hi as he put his arm round my waist. The next thing I knew we were snogging - and he was the best kisser!

We got served with our arms round each other, but both went back to our friends (big pub so easy to lose people). Never saw him again.

I struck up a friendship with a very elderly customer when I worked in a local shop. She had very bad arthritis and lived at the very top of a long steep hill. One day I was finishing work and she came in and I offered to help her get her shopping and walk her home. I chatted with her for a hour and she told me about her family and how fragile a state she was in and suggested that from now on when she needed shopping that she ring the store and ask for me and I would bring it up for her. I managed to get my supervisor on board and a couple other employees agreed to help if I wasn't at work when she called.
She called once or twice a week for 4/5 months and then it just stopped. After a week or so we were all concerned and didn't know if any other customers were friends/family so I walked up there with another colleague to check on her. We found out from her next door neighbour that's she'd been taken into a care home. I was so sad, I'd grown so fond of her and saw her as a grandmother (I was 18 at the time) I sometimes wonder how she's doing (or if she's even still alive now) and hope that myself and my store brought her some joy and a sense of love and caring when her family couldn't be around.

When I was about 17, I was a bit of a mess. I had a lot of MH problems and used to drink a lot to avoid dealing with them. One day this man plonked himself down at the pub table with my friends and introduced himself as Guy. Every now and then when I went to the pub or the local club, he’d be there and he’d look out for me when I inevitably got myself into a state. He encouraged me to stop drinking and, once I’d got control of my MH and alcohol issues, he completely vanished.

I never knew his full name (or even if Guy was his real name), never had his number and never saw him again. I think about him a lot. His support meant the world to me, he changed my life and I never got to thank him. If I was a woo kind of person, I’d possibly be inclined to think he was my guardian angel sent to look after me when I needed him most.

2011 I met a very kind woman at Heathrow Terminal 3. I was in floods of tears and she was so sympathetic and kind to me leaving been in a similar situation many years previously. I would love to talk to her again now, she has honestly changed my life for the better

Aged 17, went to a university interview that also required a written paper. After the paper and before the interview we were all together, moaning about how crap we'd been... There was a skinny goth boy called Elliot I found interesting and attractive in a nihilistic fag-hanging-out-of-the-side-of-the-mouth kind of way.

After the interview we somehow found ourselves walking together towards the station. There was an excruciating 'well....good luck...' moment before we headed to our opposite platforms.

I think back to it now and realise it was that thing I'd read about called sexual chemistry...ah well.

When I was cabin crew an American couple had this gorgeous little girl in their laps that they’d adopted from Russia. Her ears were hurting, so after service I sat in the back galley of the 767 and rubbed the back of her ears to distract/soothe her. Her new ‘mum’ was more interested in listening to her music and was clueless as was dad. I do wonder how it panned out for that little girl. I hope she has a good life. She’d be about 20 now.

123coffeebreather that was lovely of you. Seemingly small things can be so important for us all and especially older people who are often lonely/struggling a bit with fragility etc.

An elderly couple who helped me on a train a very long time ago when my mum took I’ll, I was five and dsis was three . I can remember their voices, what she said, and vaguely their positioning on the seat opposite and I know they were elderly , but little else than that .

They would be long passed away now (twenty one years ago) but I often feel grateful to them. They were very kind.

Also a young girl I met when I was 18, she told me she had just gone into care . She was a very sweet wee girl, she disappeared very quickly so I assume she was moved on through the system. Often hope she found a loving family. She would be twenty now or so .

Sat in A&E with toddler DD. They wanted to rule out leukaemia. We were waiting for an x-ray. It was my darkest hour. It was 2am. I was alone. Hungry, thirsty, exhausted, terrified, lonely.

A man in a wheelchair also waiting for an x-ray said a grim waiting room was no place for DD and insisted we take his place in the queue. His ankle was bent 90 degrees the wrong way. He was clearly in agony but demanded we take his place. We then ended up skipping a 2 hour wait because of him and DD went straight through.

I stuttered how thankfully I was and went through, it was a blur. I wish I'd stopped and thanked him properly and profusely.

I always think of him. I hope he recovered well and I hope he somehow knows how he threw me a lifeline when I needed it the most.

I was in Waitrose, feeling terribly sad and ill, buying ready meals to feed the family so that I could go home and hide in bed. I must not have been hiding it very well as the cashier just said ''''look after yourself" so kindly. I felt really protected.

A fellow student I briefly chatted to in a nightclub. I can tell you his name, home town and hair colour of nearly 20 years ago.. we passed in the street and both said hi around a year later (I had moved unis). I still reckon we'd acknowledge each other if we recognised each other. Nothing romantic but we could've been friends maybe?

I met an elderly gent on a national express coach about 23 years ago when I was a student. He had flown Lancasters in WWII and was a widower and spoke fondly of his wife who he missed. It was quite a long journey and then he also told me that his wife had a child out of wedlock to another man but that it hadn't mattered to him and he married her.

I also had a long chat with a Belarussian woman about five years ago who watched her brother was hung by the German occupying force. She was in her nineties, the pain was as fresh in her eyes as it had been in WWII.

The boy who was having his tonsils out at the same time as me, I was sharing a room with him and another boy. We were not allowed to be out of bed, I dropped my teddy and he pulled the visitors benches across and retrieved it for me. As it meant he hadn't put a foot on the ground which was the order from the nurse. I was only six, he was so lovely.

A young man in a farm shop in rural Devon about 20 years ago. He was at the counter buying some veg with a couple of elderly ladies. About 30, he had the most amazing face and skin I have ever seen and in his eyes the wisdom of a 90 year old. It was almost surreal and other customers could feel it too. This was someone who was complete and at peace with themselves at such a young age.

I worked as a waitress in Blackpool & a family was on holiday. They had come through the make a wish foundation as their young 11 really wanted to go to the holiday resort I worked.
I often think of that family & at how normal (the siblings were still arguing with each other &loving each other the way brothers & sisters do) but brave they were.
The mom & dad had accepted this awful shadow hanging over them but wanted to give their son a fab time. I remember the mom laughing about why her son would pick blackpool & not Disneyland.

I felt so sad for them. I hope they all found peace

These are all lovely

I often think about the midwife who was in charge of postnatal ward after I had my son. I had a very difficult time with pre eclampsia and had been lucky me and ds had made it out relatively unscathed. It was Christmas day when we made it to postnatal ward. She insisted I went in a private room as I was so unwell, even though normally I would have been put on the higher need ward. She said I needed rest desperately and wouldn't get it on a ward. When my husband needed to be at home with our DD after the first night I was in, she would keep me company when she could. When I couldn't go home like I had been promised she comforted me as I sobbed. She then delayed them taking my blood pressure till I'd calmed down so I wouldn't end up in an extra day from crying making my reading higher.

She did so much for me, when I was so vulnerable. She spent her Christmas day keeping me and other women safe and well, instead of being with her family and was completely selfless about it. The care she gave meant the world to me. I often think of her and how compassionate she was. I am sure I'm not the only one.