Lovely things other people have done for you that they didn't have to

[ContessaIsOnADietDammit]

I am feeling very happy right now as a good friend has just had her 2nd baby; we looked after her DS while it was happening and so I'm somewhat emotionally wound up by it all I thought, therefore, a 'lovely' thread was in order.

Here are my contributions:

1. I was late to collect friend's DS from his nursery, as I hadn't realised it closed so early - in the end I was 5 minutes late but I was fretting that they'd call friend during labour and massively stress her out. The nursery manager was lovely and kind, and when I enquired about the late charge (to pay it, as it was my fault) she simply said that she hadn't entered in the register that I was late. She was lovely, and I was very grateful.

2. DS1 (8yo) and I went on a treasure hunt the other day, and took ages over it (at least an hour if not two). At the end we'd only found 7/8 clues. We commented on this to the lady in the shop at the place we were visiting, and she said "Wait a minute", left, and came back with two creme eggs for DS that she'd grabbed from the cafe. She said that 7/8 was very respectable and would this do as a prize? Reader, it did. She too was lovely.

Please feel free to add your own tales of loveliness :)

Just me then

I guess this is a bit different as you could say it was part of her job, but the doctor I saw at a hospital appointment yesterday was just lovely, so kind. She explained all the possibilities quite frankly, but was also reassuring, and made sure I got an appointment for a scan within the next couple of days, before I go on holiday. It's really made a difference to how I'm feeling today.

We've all discovered that HCPs are unfortunately not as kind in their roles as they could be; she sounds like a great one though :)

The midwife who sat and palpated my boob to get all the colostrum out while I wept in my hospital bed about my dehydrated baby and my failure to feed him; she was wonderful. She then gave me two pieces of cake with dinner so I could 'keep my strength up'. Again, she was lovely.

The lovely white van man who took my DM and two young DSs to the service station after coming across us standing on the hard shoulder in the rain after my car broke down. He then came back and gave me an umbrella he had bought at the services.

My dd was tantrumming after swimming lesson today (she refused her nap before so recipe for disaster) and a lady in the changing room gave her her goggles to play with.

My friend putting me up in-between my house sale and purchase when they couldn't complete the same day.

Today I was heading home from walk with baby DD in car. Dh called to say he had broken down and had no lunch. He was about half an hour away, home is the same and I had no purse as was only planning on walking today.

I found three pound change and stopped at a new local food van. I was looking at the menu to see if I could get him a bacon roll. The lady serving was cooing to DD and said she was closing up early for medical appointment and I commented I was grateful to have caught her as dh broken down and it saved me going home.

She started to make him two huge sausage filled rolls, chucked two bits of cake and a can of juice in a bag. I explained I only had three pounds but would drop balance in tomorrow (big sign saying no credit). She said No, no, can't have him hungry, this will cheer him up. Just tell people about my van.

I certainly will, everything was lovely and she saved me about an hour drive!!

A kind woman in a queue behind me giving me the £2 extra I needed at the till which meant I didn't have to take away the little toy car my DS wanted so I could still get the bread and milk I needed.

I tried it say it was fine, we could come back later for it when I had my card (had only grabbed the change from my purse to go to the shop) but she said it was her treat because he was very pleasant to chat with while we were waiting. He said thank you and shook her hand 😂.

There are some nice people in the world

This includes the doctor who listened sympathetically when I went in convinced that I had ovarian cancer and was going to die soon; she ordered a full blood workup for me. It turned out I wasn't going to die anytime soon but that I did have a totally crapped out thyroid which no-one had noticed. I think we were both surprised! I'm very grateful to her for saving me from a lengthy NHS battle for diagnosis, the one I've seen many friends go through.

It was my 40th birthday. We’d recently moved to a new area, and husband had lost his job (it was during the huge recession), so obviously my birthday was a non event.

The doorbell rang and it was a mum from school who i’d only chatted to a few times. My daughter had gone to her daughters party, and we’d become facebook friends. Facebook had alerted her that it was my birthday, and she made me the most beautiful cake.

Such a wonderful thing to do for a near stranger.

I was heavily pregnant, my daughter climbed out of her buggy wanting a carry, and refused to go back into it. I couldn’t lift her due to enormous bump, and we were both in tears.

Lots of people walked past me, and one lovely old lady stopped, helped me wrestle DD into her pram, and gave me a hug, telling me it was ok, everyone has a crap day sometimes. It was so kind.

I took DD out for lunch in a pub type restaurant when she was about 5, a lovely older gentleman came over and whispered in my ear so that DD couldn’t hear and asked if she was allowed ice cream after her main course. He told me he’d been watching us and we seemed so happy and she had such beautiful manners that he wanted to treat her. I thought it was such a lovely gesture. I was youngish when I had her (21) and divorced from her abusive father so it was really nice to receive something that wasn’t criticism at a time when retrospectively I really needed it.

All lovely stories! Contessa I'm worried about what you were worried about - glad you didn't get that diagnosis!

Thanks Bridget - if one must have something, an underactive thyroid is pretty damn treatable! I hope your fears are unfounded

Do many.
My good friend whenever she visited when I had my baby brought me a big multipack of baby wipes and nappies, every time!

I had multiple miscarriages which always ended with me needing morphine and gas and air until they were over in hospital. We had our other son who was young with no help available from family so same friend used to come and sit with me so that I was not alone.
She has zero sympathy, zero empathy did not get why I even wanted children but used to come and just sit, she didn’t have to.
She once left me a big picture of David Beckham pinned on the notice board at the end of my hospital bed for when I woke up.

Recently, amongst our friends circle a most awful, horrifying and tragic event happened to one of us. She has been an absolute rock of support.
Again, she has no emotion attached, she does not ever get upset about anything she is practical and without sympathy but she has gone above and beyond with thoughtfulness and kindness.
She has ASD to explain the lack of connection on an emotional level.

She isn’t easy to be friends with sometimes but after 30 years of rock solid friendships, I adore her.

My husband left me 10 days ago and I felt I needed to tell my employers as I am a wreck and wanted to explain why I wasn't working as quickly as usual! I was so nervous about admitting it and crying in front of them (both male) but they were both so lovely. They sat and talked to me, let me have a little cry, told me not to worry about work and even offered to come with me to see a solicitor if I needed to. They really made this awful situation a little more bearable.

I'm sorry Imjustagirl, that is shitty

When my mother died, my father was ringing around the various companies to cancel things in her name - this included her mobile phone provider. He said that since she hadn't finished paying for the phone (contract) that they could have it back if they wanted. The man at the end of the line said "Sir, please keep the phone. Your loss is greater than ours". My dad said that made him cry, because it was such an unexpected source of sympathy

Oh these are lovely. Important to be reminded of how much kindness is around.

I had PND with DD2 and I remember my mum coming to stay taking one look at me and taking charge. She brought back food, and all manner of supplies from the pharmacy. Lots of that time is a blur but I have a strong memory of sitting on my bed sobbing whilst breastfeeding DD2. My mum was next to me putting squares of chocolate in my mouth and making me howl with laughter with her excellent wit. How I love her...

The day that exH moved out and it was going to be the first time my 2 DDs and I would be in the house alone, my friend and her daughter insisted they were coming round. They arrived in a taxi wearing pyjamas, brought love and cuddles for all, got us all a takeaway and even brought a bottle of Moet to boot. I know I would've just moped otherwise but quite unexpectedly they set the tone of "this is the next phase of the rest of your life". I'll always love them for it.

On Easter Saturday, my DD, her partner and I went for a four mile walk in the unusually hot sun, to visit a ruined abbey. When we finally got there, parched and exhausted, we found it was just in a field, with nowhere to buy a cold drink or get any food before facing the long walk back to our car.
A very kind local lady, who was there with her toddler GD, went to her house and brought us a set of glasses and a large bottle of chilled water. When we turned up on her doorstep to return the glasses, she asked how far we had to walk back, and promptly volunteered her DH to get the car out and drive us all the way back to where we'd parked - which involved a large detour as there was no road along the coastal path where we'd come, and he had to go quite far inland to reach a road.
I could have hugged them both - my legs were killimg me after climbing up and down all the cliff stairs and hills in that heatwave!

My DS (was about 5 at the time) got suddenly very car sick on a long journey. We got out of the car at a bit of a loss and a lovely lady walking past took us to her house and gave me a clean set of clothes for him and told us to keep them.