When my husband returned from Iraq March 2004 I picked him up in Miami headed home. First meal he wanted was Cracker Barrell so we stopped with our then young daughter. There were 2 young mothers at the next table with 3 or 4 children. They bought one plate for the kids to split and they bought cheap meals for themselves. You could tell this was a big deal to be eating in a restaurant for this group. I watched as the kids were all well mannered. They left before us. When it came time we asked our waitress for our check she said those ladies took care of it and left you this. It was a note scribbled on a pamphlet you get at church. "Thank you to you and your family for what you have done for our country" My husband is now retired and that note is in our prized momentos among his medals. I still cry each time I even think about it.
Kindness of strangers
- Thread starter Fierlin1182
- Start date
Quote:
Brought tears to my eyes -
Brought tears to my eyes -
Some years ago shortly after I moved to a new city, a new job and fresh from a divorce, I lost my beloved 13 year old golden retriever Tank to cancer quite suddenly. I remember crying uncontrollably in the parking lot of the vet, unable to even get into my car. A woman approached me, put her arms around me and said to me......."he must have been well loved". "I know this may not be of comfort now, but in time you will give your heart to another dog and your pain will lessen."
I don't know who she was, I don't even rememeber what she looked like, but I will always remember her kindness. God sent her when He received my Tank.
I don't know who she was, I don't even rememeber what she looked like, but I will always remember her kindness. God sent her when He received my Tank.
Some of these posts are making my screen blurry - in a good way!
Quote:
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What a precious story! Kudos to the homeless guy for repaying a kindness in the only way that he could!!!
What a precious story! Kudos to the homeless guy for repaying a kindness in the only way that he could!!!
Quote:
they do. and get not near enough money or appreciation.
we help by hiring them also when we've got work and need extra hands: HirePatriots.com
it's a place where you can post a job, and the wage you're paying, and it's open to active and recently mustered out military. we've never had to wait more than an hour before we've got a crew lined up. these guys know how to work, how to take direction, are always polite, and I don't worry that they're casing my place to see what they can come back for later. they're happy to have a little extra income, lots of them have young families and need the money, and they're grateful to have a chance to make that happen.
on top of that, some of these young men still need a dad, or never had one, and my hubby's a good one. we've collected quite an assortment of extra sons this way.
zzGypsy, you make me laugh about the collection of sons.
My husband's Navy & I'm an Ombudsman for our Command. Many I come across are shocked that I'm still an Ombudsman (was for our last command & plan to be as long as they'll keep letting me!) & don't seem to get that I truly love doing it because I get lots of families in various needs that I can help, or can at least walk with. The ones that strike me the most are the brand-new kids, new to our ships, their families are separated from them for the first time & a close family member dies. Of course, it always seems to happen when the ship is deployed, so we have to relay a message, try to get the kid off the ship to get home, all while the poor family is in hysterics trying to figure all this out in the heat of the moment.
But this 'job' (it's more of a privilege) keeps me in the loop enough between our Command and the families, that we can identify those that really need some help, or those who can't get home for the holidays, etc. I'm a 'mama duck' at heart so I try to do what I can for them & for the holidays we always bring home kids that would otherwise be stuck here without families (& most of their friends go home for the holidays), they get to come here & be with our family, enjoy a huge home-cooked meal & their families don't have to worry about them all alone out here.
When our ships are deployed for various holidays, I always send huge boxes out full of things, stockings, easter baskets, etc.- I label the ones who are intended for specific kids & the husband, of course, then there's a bunch more in there that he gives out to kids that don't have families, or don't hear from them much. Reminds them they're loved & not forgotten. It's unfortunate to realize how many of our service members don't have anyone to come home to, my husband used to be one & now I make sure I can do something special, even if tiny, for others that are alone.
they do. and get not near enough money or appreciation.
we help by hiring them also when we've got work and need extra hands: HirePatriots.com
it's a place where you can post a job, and the wage you're paying, and it's open to active and recently mustered out military. we've never had to wait more than an hour before we've got a crew lined up. these guys know how to work, how to take direction, are always polite, and I don't worry that they're casing my place to see what they can come back for later. they're happy to have a little extra income, lots of them have young families and need the money, and they're grateful to have a chance to make that happen.
on top of that, some of these young men still need a dad, or never had one, and my hubby's a good one. we've collected quite an assortment of extra sons this way.
zzGypsy, you make me laugh about the collection of sons.
My husband's Navy & I'm an Ombudsman for our Command. Many I come across are shocked that I'm still an Ombudsman (was for our last command & plan to be as long as they'll keep letting me!) & don't seem to get that I truly love doing it because I get lots of families in various needs that I can help, or can at least walk with. The ones that strike me the most are the brand-new kids, new to our ships, their families are separated from them for the first time & a close family member dies. Of course, it always seems to happen when the ship is deployed, so we have to relay a message, try to get the kid off the ship to get home, all while the poor family is in hysterics trying to figure all this out in the heat of the moment.
But this 'job' (it's more of a privilege) keeps me in the loop enough between our Command and the families, that we can identify those that really need some help, or those who can't get home for the holidays, etc. I'm a 'mama duck' at heart so I try to do what I can for them & for the holidays we always bring home kids that would otherwise be stuck here without families (& most of their friends go home for the holidays), they get to come here & be with our family, enjoy a huge home-cooked meal & their families don't have to worry about them all alone out here.
When our ships are deployed for various holidays, I always send huge boxes out full of things, stockings, easter baskets, etc.- I label the ones who are intended for specific kids & the husband, of course, then there's a bunch more in there that he gives out to kids that don't have families, or don't hear from them much. Reminds them they're loved & not forgotten. It's unfortunate to realize how many of our service members don't have anyone to come home to, my husband used to be one & now I make sure I can do something special, even if tiny, for others that are alone.
- Mar 19, 2007
- 283
- 14
- 244
Several years, just before Christmas, we had a terrible thunder/lightning storm and our new 5 month old puppy had bolted from the yard and disappeared. I went out the next day and looked around our neighborhood and posted several lost dog flyers offering a reward. Didn't find him. My 4 year old daughter was devistated beyond belief, in constant tears for 3 or 4 days.
I took her out every day and searched for the dog and eventually found ourselves on the back roads of the former sugar cane plantations, thousands and thousands of acres, now owned and farmed by big mean GMO corporation. Within 30 minutes a GMO field supervisor/security truck pulled up and asked what I was doing, told me I was on private land and couldn't be there and if I don't leave he will call the cops and charge me with trespassing (standard SOP for the not so neighborly GMO corp). I explained we lost our dog and my daughter bursted out in tears right there on the spot at the mention of his name. He said we can't drive around, but we could leave my truck outside the gate and he would drive us around looking for him as he did his patrols. He put my daughters car seat in the front and told me to ride in the back calling out for the dog. He radioed out to all his field workers to keep an eye out for out dog and we got a couple sightings from days before, but dark set in. He took out a map and plotted all the sightings and we figured out the direction he was going...over 5 miles away and heading away from our house. He told me he would patrol that general area the next day and call me if he sees him again, but I can't drive around because if his boss or any other mainland supervisors see me, they would call the police immediatly without warning. I gave him my cell phone and email address and prayed he would call us later.
The next day I got a call and he said he was up on the hills above the fields, got anther sightings from his workers and looking down on the fields he could see our dog walking the fields. He said we would never meet up in time to get there where our dogs was and he said, I quote, "F*** the rules your little girl needs her dog back'. He guided me turn by turn over miles of back roads over cell phones and finally said I am one field in front of where he last saw our dog 20 minutes ago. I got out and started calling and calling and the guard called me back and said he sees our dog but he is past me, but hears me calling and is running my direction. Our dog finally pops out over a berm and runs full steam for me, doesn't miss a step and right into the back of my truck. I was was amazed the guard could even see him from the hills. He was looking for a furry white australian shepard, but what I had in the back of my truck was a soliod red mud caked, matted fur dog with stickers and grass and sticks stuck in his hair as if he was wearing a military ghillie camo suit. He perfectly blended in with the background dirt and fields. Later the guard called me back and said he sees I got my dog, but do I know how to get back out? In my hast of following his turn by turn directions I didn't pay attention to where I was or how to backtrack my way out. I hope he didn't have too powerful of binoculars or he would've seen the tears of joy streaming down my face or my daughter all covered in mud from hugging her dog. He stayed on the hill and guided me to the quickest gate out and had a field worker waiting to open the gate for me.
But wait it gets even better. Over the next couple days I tried to meet up with him to give him the reward we had offered for our dog. He kept avoiding my call or telling me he had to keep up a random patrol or he was way on the other side of the fields. So I took a picture of my daughter hugging our cleaned up dog while holding a hundred dollar bill and had her draw a picture and write him a letter. I wrote to him 'Thank you for giving my faimily the best holiday gift we have ever received. We have out family back together and our daughter is as happy as we have ever seen her. Please get something special for your children or take your girlfriend or wife out to dinner'. I put it in an envelope and dropped it off at the main GMO company office and told them to give it to him when he comes out of the field.
A couple days later I got an email with an attachment from someone I didn't know, was about to delete it but noticed it had a common local last name and opened it up and it was the security guard/supervisor who had helped me. He wrote, Thank You for the picture, letter and reward you left for me. I am a single guy with no family, just myself. I could waste it on myself buying beer for the next couple weeks, but I decided to share it with all my field workers who called in with sightings of your dog. I bought spam musibis, donuts and juice for breakfast for all my workers. He enclosed a printed picture of 25-30 workers all standing around his truck in the dirt field eating breakfast before they go out and work in the fields. Tears came to my eyes again that morning. I printed out the letter and picture and now have it hanging in our office for all my family to remember...a big group of unknown random field workers and a supervisor with a heart big enough for a family who all came together to help us out. My daughter knows the picture as the people who gave her bestest friend back to her and she can hug and kiss him everyday because of them.
I decided not to publish the GMO company field owners name or the name of the supervisor or field workers who helped us out out of fear that it may get back to big bad GMO seed company HQ and it may get back to my small town area where everone know everyone and big bad GMO could start an investigation on who allowed trespassing onto their land (worse has happened from them like arrests, TRO, black balling large local family names, lawyering locals families into submission, cutting off water to ditches used my generations of family gardens). But I have learned that while big bad GMO seed companies have no heart or soul, their workers and employees can have hearts of gold and many don't believe it what the GMO companies are doing, but have to work there to take care of their families.
Writing this story is in dedication to all the people who helped getting our dog back to our daughter and to the utter joy and love that dog has given my daughter since then and years to come. My heart swells each time I see her out there with her arm around him talking to him telling, him all kinds of secrets and seeing her share her sandwich with him even though I tell her not to and how close all that love almost never happened.
I took her out every day and searched for the dog and eventually found ourselves on the back roads of the former sugar cane plantations, thousands and thousands of acres, now owned and farmed by big mean GMO corporation. Within 30 minutes a GMO field supervisor/security truck pulled up and asked what I was doing, told me I was on private land and couldn't be there and if I don't leave he will call the cops and charge me with trespassing (standard SOP for the not so neighborly GMO corp). I explained we lost our dog and my daughter bursted out in tears right there on the spot at the mention of his name. He said we can't drive around, but we could leave my truck outside the gate and he would drive us around looking for him as he did his patrols. He put my daughters car seat in the front and told me to ride in the back calling out for the dog. He radioed out to all his field workers to keep an eye out for out dog and we got a couple sightings from days before, but dark set in. He took out a map and plotted all the sightings and we figured out the direction he was going...over 5 miles away and heading away from our house. He told me he would patrol that general area the next day and call me if he sees him again, but I can't drive around because if his boss or any other mainland supervisors see me, they would call the police immediatly without warning. I gave him my cell phone and email address and prayed he would call us later.
The next day I got a call and he said he was up on the hills above the fields, got anther sightings from his workers and looking down on the fields he could see our dog walking the fields. He said we would never meet up in time to get there where our dogs was and he said, I quote, "F*** the rules your little girl needs her dog back'. He guided me turn by turn over miles of back roads over cell phones and finally said I am one field in front of where he last saw our dog 20 minutes ago. I got out and started calling and calling and the guard called me back and said he sees our dog but he is past me, but hears me calling and is running my direction. Our dog finally pops out over a berm and runs full steam for me, doesn't miss a step and right into the back of my truck. I was was amazed the guard could even see him from the hills. He was looking for a furry white australian shepard, but what I had in the back of my truck was a soliod red mud caked, matted fur dog with stickers and grass and sticks stuck in his hair as if he was wearing a military ghillie camo suit. He perfectly blended in with the background dirt and fields. Later the guard called me back and said he sees I got my dog, but do I know how to get back out? In my hast of following his turn by turn directions I didn't pay attention to where I was or how to backtrack my way out. I hope he didn't have too powerful of binoculars or he would've seen the tears of joy streaming down my face or my daughter all covered in mud from hugging her dog. He stayed on the hill and guided me to the quickest gate out and had a field worker waiting to open the gate for me.
But wait it gets even better. Over the next couple days I tried to meet up with him to give him the reward we had offered for our dog. He kept avoiding my call or telling me he had to keep up a random patrol or he was way on the other side of the fields. So I took a picture of my daughter hugging our cleaned up dog while holding a hundred dollar bill and had her draw a picture and write him a letter. I wrote to him 'Thank you for giving my faimily the best holiday gift we have ever received. We have out family back together and our daughter is as happy as we have ever seen her. Please get something special for your children or take your girlfriend or wife out to dinner'. I put it in an envelope and dropped it off at the main GMO company office and told them to give it to him when he comes out of the field.
A couple days later I got an email with an attachment from someone I didn't know, was about to delete it but noticed it had a common local last name and opened it up and it was the security guard/supervisor who had helped me. He wrote, Thank You for the picture, letter and reward you left for me. I am a single guy with no family, just myself. I could waste it on myself buying beer for the next couple weeks, but I decided to share it with all my field workers who called in with sightings of your dog. I bought spam musibis, donuts and juice for breakfast for all my workers. He enclosed a printed picture of 25-30 workers all standing around his truck in the dirt field eating breakfast before they go out and work in the fields. Tears came to my eyes again that morning. I printed out the letter and picture and now have it hanging in our office for all my family to remember...a big group of unknown random field workers and a supervisor with a heart big enough for a family who all came together to help us out. My daughter knows the picture as the people who gave her bestest friend back to her and she can hug and kiss him everyday because of them.
I decided not to publish the GMO company field owners name or the name of the supervisor or field workers who helped us out out of fear that it may get back to big bad GMO seed company HQ and it may get back to my small town area where everone know everyone and big bad GMO could start an investigation on who allowed trespassing onto their land (worse has happened from them like arrests, TRO, black balling large local family names, lawyering locals families into submission, cutting off water to ditches used my generations of family gardens). But I have learned that while big bad GMO seed companies have no heart or soul, their workers and employees can have hearts of gold and many don't believe it what the GMO companies are doing, but have to work there to take care of their families.
Writing this story is in dedication to all the people who helped getting our dog back to our daughter and to the utter joy and love that dog has given my daughter since then and years to come. My heart swells each time I see her out there with her arm around him talking to him telling, him all kinds of secrets and seeing her share her sandwich with him even though I tell her not to and how close all that love almost never happened.
- Oct 2, 2009
- 1,333
- 15
- 151
Wow. That is, simply put, an amazing story.
Wonderful story! You are so lucky he helped you get your dog back, there are so few happy endings. I think it's great that you sent him a photo of your little girl and her dog. I bet he keeps it on his desk too
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