What's the kindest thing you've ever experienced?

[flopsytheflatcat]

an act of kindness to you or one you've witnessed or heard about?

My dad died last Christmas. A few days later, DS's best friend (they're both 12) turned up at the door with a lovely bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates for me, having walked to the shop in horrible weather and bought them out of his own Christmas money.

Another, which I've posted before - our boiler packed in a few winters ago and a lovely plumber and electrician spent an entire afternoon here trying to fix it. He couldn't get it working again but he refused to charge for his time, and the following day, which was a Saturday, he turned up at the door with an oil-filled electric radiator and said his wife had been nagging him for ages to get rid of it and that we could keep it. He wouldn't take a penny for it. We had a bitter cold snap that weekend and my DS was ill - having that radiator made all the difference in the world.

pollypocket952

Thats amazing, well done to you. That little girl will never forget how you helped her. This has reminded me of what happened to me when i was 18

I was with my family walking through an outdoor shopping area when we were all started on by a group of teenagers ( it layer turned out they were all on cocaine and drunk ) they surround us and during it all i ended up being stabbed with a stanley knife. Id never met any of these people before

During this, a security gaurd has seen it on the cctv, he had alerted the police, left his station and was with us before the police were. He pulled some of the teenagers off me. I remember him getting me to sit on a bench, the police sirens, my mum hysterically pulling my top up to see if id been stabbed in the back. Itbwas awful.

He could of just stayed in his station and watched. The takeaways near us had locked their doors whilst witnessing this, the area was well known for incidents although most happen at the park, but he still came down and tried help. He could of been stabbed to for all he knew

Welling up reading some of these.

I had 3 kids under 2, two of whom were terrible sleepers/screamers. Our next door neighbours assured me that the walls of the houses were very thick and they never heard a thing. It wasn't until they moved out and people with their own young children moved in that I realised the walls are actually paper thin (despite being solid-looking Edwardian houses) and you can hear everything! It was a small thing to do, but a very kind one.

My sister flew to the other side of the country with her baby daughter to look after my baby daughter so I didn't have to take her to my SIL's funeral. Minimal fuss and drama, but it made such a difference to how DH and I were able to get through the day.

One of the best threads I have read on here!!

I've come back to this thread to say thank you for the comments re my dd.

I want you to know that I did get to meet the gentleman In person, just before my dd's trial started. We were able to thank him in person for his kindness and tell him that we would always be grateful to him.
It wasn't till I heard him give his evidence that it really hit home just what he had done for us.
I'll never forget him and always be extremely grateful to him.

A long time ago when I was a teen, I was waiting in heavy snow for a bus that was hours late. It was way to far to walk and well before mobile phones. I was, because I was a teenager, inappropriately dressed for the weather. An older man - although probably only 30, but ancient to my teenage eyes, insisted I wore his coat whilst we waited for the bus. He was wearing a suit, so must have been frozen. I won’t ever forget that man.

I remember once me and my boyfriend were frustrated and arguing (not loudly) in the street. It was late, empty and quiet, we were not making a scene and genuinely thought we were alone as we were walking. Actually it was a moment for us to decide whether we are staying together or not. All of a sudden a lady appeared from one of the shops we had just passed. Approached us and gave us a beautiful hand painted dish. Turned out she was an artist and was just closing her gallery when she saw us. She said she just wanted to give us this as a little gift and wished us all the best. I don't remember her exact words but I was so touched. He proposed the day after. Never got married but that is a completely different story.

I can't count the number of kindnesses I'm grateful for, from the school mums who set up a rota to drop off meals when DH died (they did so much more, but this is a post, not a memoir) to the kindness of DS2's therapist.

The most recent was last December. I'd been Christmas shopping and was laden down and knackered. I sat on a bench for a rest. Then when I popped into the supermarket to pick up some bits I realized I hadn't got my bag.

I rushed back to the bench but it wasn't there. To make matters worse I'd just been to the cash machine and taken out £200. That's a fortune to me. I was so cross with myself.

Someone handed it in. All the money was still there. They didn't leave a name. It was so kind. Nothing could have been more Christmassy.

I used to be homeless and a street prostitute in London. One night I was beaten up , robbed and left miles from where I was meant to be staying that night. It was raining, freezing cold and I was crying.
Two young men on their way home from a friends asked what was wrong so I told them. They gave me their jumper and coat to wear, took me for chips and coffee, and drove me across London to where I needed to be. They played me their favourite cheer-up music, as they called it, to make me feel better. They were lovely.

Ambulance to A&E with poorly toddler, in the panic to get him seen, I forgot my wallet and had no way of getting home.

I was talking the EX about how we would be getting home and a lovely lady sitting next to us, handed me over enough to get taxi home (£5).

I said I would pay her back but only remembered her surname and have not been able to track down on social media.

DC was eventually diagnosed with Epilepsy and that was the first of many hospital trips but never forgot my wallet again.

Great thread, so many lovely people around!

Mine would have to be, on a flight home trying to order food for ourselves and a hungry toddler, our card wasn't a accepted card for some reason, so a lovely couple paid for us, we protested but they insisted. Was really lovely.

Another was my named specialist whilst pregnant, not sure it was kindness or her been cautious but I have a blood disorder, some antibodies I should not have that can cause issues in pregnancy, only met her twice during pregnancy but she was so kind and lovely, really reassuring as she could tell how anxious I was I was.

I went into labour, full term and was loosing blood clots, the midwife I saw was insistant it was just my mucous plug (it wasn't, it was my second birth so I knew the difference) and wanted to send me home, I insisted she speak to my specialist which she reluctantly did, specialist couldn't get in to see me but insisted I was admitted and induced without even looking at me, when the midwife protested saying it was only my plug she said to do it anyway to 'put my mind at rest'

Was induced, DS was born, lost lots more clots and blood, my placenta was failing, I honestly don't think he would be here now if it wasn't for that specialist going out a limb for me and pulling rank just so I wasn't worried. Might not be a random act of kindness as such, but I was so thankful for her taking time out of her day to help me and my DD.

My partner died. I had felt able to tell anyone but my best friend. Not my family, no one.

A friend, an old work friend, up feeding her baby sent me a chance message at 4am. I thought for a moment it was him, as he had insomnia and was often up in the night and would sometimes send messages for when I woke up. I rang her and couldn't speak, couldn't say what was wrong. She was at my door by 4.20 am. She held me while I cried for hours without needing an explanation. She found the calmest member of my family (my family are often not so helpful) and rang them at 8am. Waited until they could come. She held me while I cried, tried to make me drink, gave me all her cigarettes, sat in the dark on a cold December night in my garden for hours, still holding me so I could smoke without being alone. Didn't push for what was wrong, just stayed with me. She stayed for 6 hours, broadly in silence; got my grandparents there; looked after my children when they woke up. All after being up since 3 am. Then she went to work. After work she came straight back to me.

I couldn't tell her what was wrong until that evening. She was there without question in the middle of the night. She saved me when I thought I would disappear. She literally picked me up of the floor while I was screaming. All without even knowing what was wrong, just that I desperately needed someone to be with me.

There is nothing I wouldn't do for her.

Also, forgot this earlier. DS and I went to America on holiday this year. He had all his holiday money in a new wallet that my DM had bought him for his birthday, along with his driving licence and bank cards. Tbe wallet fell out of his pocket on the transfer coach but he didn't notice until we had unpacked at the hotel.

I rang the transfer company and Virgin rep, as well as the airport (he thought he may have lost it in the toilets). No luck. I thought we would have to claim for the loss on his travel insurance, but decided to leave it to the next day because we were exhausted.

The next morning DS had a facebook message from an American lady to say she had found his wallet and would leave it with Guest Services at Disney for him to collect. She then phoned him from there to give him the reference number for the wallet - she was truly lovely. She was also on holiday and not a local, but she had seen his driving licence photo and details, and used them to track him down via social media to make sure he got it back, instead of handing it in to the transport company (she found it below the seat on the bus). When we collected it, nothing had been taken and we were so grateful to her and her kindness.

My wonderful art teacher, who was the only person who realised how much I was struggling with my mental health as a teen. When I had my first panic attack and didn't understand what was happening to me, she took me to the art library room, made me a cup of tea and gave me some mantras to help calm myself down. She was a very no nonsense sort of person and I would never have expected that compassion from her over what I thought was a silly overreaction.

I came back to work after being signed off with chronic anxiety. Not a new thing for me, I struggle all the time, and coming back was scary and I was likely to slip into my usual ways. I struggled to engage and would go all day without speaking to anyone because I was too shy and felt like I was annoying everyone if I talked to them. One of my colleagues went out of his way to engage me in conversation, to encourage me to join in at tea breaks, and generally made a massive and lasting difference to my confidence in work. This was years ago and he's still one of my closest friends. He moved abroad with his boyfriend but we still chat every day. I can't put into words what a difference his inherently kind nature did for me and my recovery. He is one of those rare people who are just kind through and through.

This threads making me cry.

So many sad stories and so many wonderful responses from strangers that have helped to alleviate some of the pain, even if only for a moment.

These are beautiful.

I got a phone call one Saturday evening to say that my dad, who lived in France, had had a massive heart attack. I jumped into the car and drove for 8 hours through a filthy wet night, turning up at the French hospital at 6 o'clock the next morning. I had some trouble tracking my dad down, as he'd been moved since my last phone contact, but everyone was helpful. The act of kindness that stands out came from the nurse in the life support unit my dad was in. Not only did she let me in at such an unorthodox visiting time, she took the time to prepare me for how difficult it would be to see my dad on life support, and, kindest of all, she held my hand while we were in the room, before taking me to a room where she gave me coffee and biscuits.

The Carphone Warehouse stayed open in Meadowhall last night so that people could charge their phones.
Lidl in Rotherham were giving the police free sandwiches.

I have had a lot of kindness from MNetters -

the person who offered to give my son a lift from the Nottingham area when he lost his bank card

the person who did all they could and offered more to help son find his way into scientific research work

the person who went through Wandsworths job vacancy site and found an application form in a format I could fill in on line

and for all of you who have struggled and had horrific things to cope with .

Very recently I found out that someone paid quite a lot of money I my name to a charity. So so kind of them.

I was bullied out my first job by my boss. I told her I was looking elsewhere given her dissatisfaction with me, and she demanded after a few weeks that I give my notice (which you're not allowed to do, but this job wasn't worth a fight). She also said she wouldn't recommend me for another job in this field which I basically did a postgrad in and really wanted to do. A colleague, who had been promoted over me, took me aside and told me everyone thought I was being treated really unfairly, which was really kind in itself, and also offered to be my referee. Luckily I was offered a new job before my forced notice had run out, and we nervously watched the post pile because presumably manager would have been pissed off with colleague if she realised what was happening.

Never forgotten her kindness. And still working in the same field 20 years on!

@Ginfordinner , nice to read that, after reading earlier that people stuck at MeadowHell had had to buy blankets to keep warm last night.

My mum had beaten me up and smashed a bowl of hot lasagne over my head at home in front of my friends I was 14. My mum made me leave the house in the pouring rain with no shoes or coat

this is so sad, and I am so glad you had a friend who took you in like that x x

Hamleys. The demonstrator put out this balloon thing and all the kids surged to fight over it and have a go. My boy waited patiently in line and had been there first anyway. The demonstrator overlooked him and let all the loud fighty kids have a turn, then said ok! Times up now! Back soon! and disappeared behind some doors, and my son never got a go.

A lady came over and said “he stood so patiently waiting for his turn, that was so unfair to him. So I’ve bought him one!”

It was £15!!! He was SO HAPPY!!!