What is one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for you? **Thread title edited by MNHQ**

[elliollie]

Doesn't have to be a big thing.

1. I was ill a few years ago, acutely for about 2 months and probably another 10 months after that. Particularly in the first two months, a friend of mine practically gave up all her time every day to sit with me, help with washing and cleaning and keep me going. She was a huge support to dh and the dc and we won't forget her kindness.
2. During the same time, I had another friend who would post me little cards every week or two, just to remind me that I was loved and appreciated.

When I was about 15, I left my school briefcase in a phone box when laden down after a hockey match and ringing my dad for a lift. Dad and I went back for it as soon as we realised, but it had gone, and much of my GCSE work with it. When we got home - a farm in the middle of nowhere 6 miles from the town - there was my briefcase! The next person to use the phone box had found it, got my address from my bus pass inside it, and driven it all the way home. Thank you so much, if you're reading this!

Everyone on the cancer support thread but most of all whatwouldleslieknopedo

Those ladies have got me through a lot and I know we say this all the time but it’s Mumsnet at its best

DH and I booked a few days away in Scotland last year. We met up with my closest friend while there for a day. I only get to see him a couple of times a year. When I went to settle the hotel bill he'd paid it all.

What an adorable thread

I was really ill with proper flu dh had just had 2 weeks off work with it my parents were away and my sisters working. I literally couldn’t care for my 9 month old pfb. Couldn’t ask friends due to germs. My uncle drove 50 miles took dd and I back to their house and he did all the childcare for a week. My aunt is lovely but had stuff on. Never forgotten his kindness - my aunt is my mums sister so he’s an uncle by marriage anyway and a serious quiet man you would never guess was a whizz at childcare

my granny was poorly and one night I had been visiting her and she passed away when I was with her.. the following day I was told by my employer of 9 years I no longer had a job..

Then 2 days later my 4 best friends of 12/13 years all came round to my house and surprised me with beautiful flowers.. to say I was emotional was an understatement!

“I left home” with my best mate one summer when I was a teen (we stayed in the holiday camp we worked in because we wanted to be grown up)
My mum made us a flask of got chocolate and bought pastrjed and croissants every morning on her way to work.

I went to an open day at a university when thinking about applying for midwifery. It was shortly after a relationship breakdown and i was feeling very low in self esteem, i was only going due to encouragement from my parents. I got talking to a lovely woman who was also going to apply, we exchanged life stories whilst waiting for tours/presentations. At the end of the day she gave me a little card which was full of encouragement and how she saw something special in me and that I'd make a wonderful midwife it was so unexpected and was such a lovely gesture when i was feeling so down on myself. I'll never forget her, and i hope she made it too!

Oh so many lovely people.

When my eldest was a year old I became very ill and off work for over 4 months. My DP was working away. No family near. Only moved to the area about 6 months earlier so friendship network not firmly established and those new friends had little ones too.

Only option seemed to be for DP who was self employed to return and look after me and we'd live on my sick pay.

Then a neighbour who we were on nodding terms with, (but scared me slightly as very brisk) appeared like a fairy godmother. She would sit with me in the morning and help me with my child and come back round at 6pm to help with bedtimes. She sorted out the mum-friends I had made in helping with meals and entertaining me and my boy.
She took me to medical appts. As I got stronger she took me and my boy out. When she went on holiday she arranged cover and her friend came to sit with me. She was just amazingly there.

She is the godmother to my boys now.

Last year she was diagnosed with cancer. I now take her to appointments and take and collect for her operations. She's still the most brisk and stubborn person I know.

I was at church a few days ago. As I left the service someone kindly let me have their phone number. She also offered to distribute flyers for my tutoring business as well. The kindness of random people does indeed make a significant difference.

Love these posts, think I may have something in my eye.

We were in Italy for a friend's wedding. They were getting married in a tiny town, middle of nowhere. We needed to take two trains to get there. On the first leg of our journey, the conductor came round and looked at our tickets and got very angry. We had no Italian, he had no English. The young Italian woman sitting beside us explained (in English) that he was going to fine us because we hadn't validated our tickets. She talked to him, he was still angry, she got huffy and then he walked away. She turned to us and said "It's fine now". She got into an argument to save us a fine!

We get off that train and go to buy tickets for the next leg of the journey to be told that the train we were planning to get doesn't stop at the station we needed (a seasonal thing).

So we're standing in the station looking at each other, not having a clue what we're going to do. A young Italian guy next to us overhears our conversation and says he can help. So the train rolls into the station, he brings us to the driver, has a conversation in Italian and tells us to get on the train. We are protesting that it's not going where we want but he insists we get on.

The train takes off and after about 45 minutes, the train stops, the driver comes out of his little room with a key, manually opens the doors of the train and tells us to get off.

We are at a closed train station but he points over the fields and just says the name of the town and sure enough we can see a town in the distance.

So as the station is closed, we have no way to get to the town so I called the guesthouse we were staying in and thankfully the man spoke English and I asked him could he arrange a taxi to come pick us up.

The "taxi" arrives a few minutes later and when we get to the guesthouse, the "taxi driver" gets out, takes our bags and rushes into the guesthouse.

We are met at the reception desk by the "taxi driver". The guesthouse owner had come to pick us up himself and he refused to take any money for it.

I love Italians

I was in my early 20s and in an abusive relationship, I had a broken bone and was admitted to hospital as I needed surgery to have a wire put in to fix it. My partner would not let my family visit and I was scared and lonely. I was on a ward with all elderly ladies who had hip replacements, and they were all lovely. One of them must have got the gist of what was going on as she'd asked me a few questions that I couldn't answer, and one night she came to me and gave me three pound coins to use at the payphone on the ward, she said " ring who you need to". I was so grateful I cried, then I rang my mum and told her everything.
Also, I was fit to go home by the Friday night and one of the nurses knew more of the story and knew I didn't want to go home, she told me if I thought I needed more pain relief (morphine) I'd have to stay in for observation, and then would struggle to me discharged over the weekend, so I got to stay the whole weekend and they really fussed over me. I will never forget thy kindness of those people, they were there when I really needed help.

Post-University I landed a "dream" job in a well-known charity. My boss turned out to be an old-school, slimy creep. Every day I dreaded him coming to perch on my desk for a "chat", and lived in fear of his many and varied shenanigans. One night after work on a late night train back to Brighton, I was snottily sobbing to a friend on the phone, telling her about his latest escapades. A lady came down the empty carriage and plonked a can of gin and tonic on the table, "You need this" she said.She also gave me her business card, telling me to ring her on Monday. I didn't end up working for her but she gave me some excellent advice, and thanks to her I ended up in a job in which I was very happy.

Two Januaries in a row I was recovering from D&c in a country far from my family with a toddler. All my friends had kids the same age and lived at least a 30 min train ride away. The first aone of them dropped over after traveling for more than an our to bring me birthday presents from all of them. The second year the same friend came to care for my ds while DH picked me up at the hospital. I think she was on the train longer that day than she was at my house .

My MIL stepping in to help DH so I could fly to the other side of the world with my mother when my sister became critically ill. She encouraged me to stay another week. It was a huge thing because DFIL had passed away not even 2 weeks before.

I had an operation and the people collecting me didn't turn up but I didn't have enough money for the bus fare, a kind bus driver let me pay child fare.

A few years ago, I had a nasty horse related accident. Half my calf was sheared off, I was off work for 3 months. I was-still am-an active member on a horsey forum. Their kindness amazed me: there were offers of portable loos (because I couldn't walk), one lady even offered to pick up, transport and look after my horse temporarily! Their sheer endless encouragement and offers of amazing help cheered me up and kept me sane while I was house bound.

On our honeymoon we stayed in Florence and bussed it out to a vineyard for a wine tasting thing. We were (are) skint, but happy. We were sat with an American couple and their elderly parents who had decided to go on a big 'last hurrah' trip all around Europe.

We had a great time together and the couple were reminiscing about their own honeymoon in Europe, years previously. They left and when we went to get our bill we discovered that they had paid for everything.

When I had dd2 I was i was hand way through a non mol from her dad and had a 2 year old as well. A couple, friends of mine did a load of batch cooking and delivered it to my house - dozens of takeaway tubs all labelled up. The chap was a chef. The food was amazing. They were a family who had to count their pennies too. That was selfless and kind and very nurturing. Still makes me glow and it was 6 years ago.

A silly thing but we were in rural Ireland on holiday when the clocks changed so arrived an hour late for dinner at the local pub. Entirely our fault and we reassured the pub owner it was fine not to worry. He shouted “but you’ve children!” Called the chef back and reopened the kitchen. Can’t imagine that ever happening in England . Everywhere we travel the kids say the people “aren’t as nice as they were in Ireland”. Which is true.

Ahhh thanks for getting into the spirit of the thread! I've passed a happy half hour reading about all these lovely people.
Dh is doing a lovely thing as we speak. He's had a rotten week - work wise - he only got back from a long journey tonight and he's currently trying to figure out how to put music tracks into a PowerPoint slideshow I've made for my mum who has late stage dementia and is having a 70th birthday party tomorrow. My mum won't have a clue but he's doing it for me and my sister. He's knackered but he's determined to have it done tonight. He really is my favourite ❤️

My friend helped us have our children (lesbian couple) by being our donor. He sees the children regularly and they have a great relationship with him.
He’s now taking annual leave to look after them whilst I give birth to another child, this time for another gay couple (surrogate) so my wife can support me through the birth.
I don’t know what we would do without him, he is the kindest man I know!

my dad died unexpectedly last year,it was really traumatic how it happened but a girl i work with allowed me to message and off load all my emotions to her over the following weeks. To her it was probably nothing but to me it allowed me to not turn mental and not lose control of the situation.i will be grateful for ever for the support she gave.

My oldest dd gave me an unexpected gift. I fell very hard on my knee and knew it was damaged. I am recovering from a traumatic brain injury and just could not face another medical issue.

At 3 in the morning, the pain was causing me to vomit, have chills and experience a very odd zipping sensation in my veins. I tried explaining the issue with my husband but he just could not seem to understand.

I called for daughter, who had just got off her shift with our local ambulance company. She came straight away. She knelt at my bedside while I sobbed away. I was having difficulty with my speech as a result of my upset. I kept saying to her “ Can you feel it? Can you feel the pain going through my veins?” My child calmly took my hands in hers and stayed quietly “Mum, just because I don’t feel it doesn’t mean it is not happening to you”. She bent to put shoes on my feet and supported to her car.

I had a knee fracture which required surgery. My daughter stayed with me the entire time. She was my advocate when my own words failed me. What a gift for me to be cared for by my very lovely adult child.❤️