Strangers You Remember

[CableCat]

I will never forget her.

She was an old Japanese woman in her 80's, and her husband was a long-retired US veteran. When my parents sent me back to the united states for university, this lady and her husband were on the flight with me and my grandfather. Our plane had an issue and diverted to Hawaii, where we were stuck on Waikiki for 3 days. It was the start of summer so all the hotels were booked fully when we arrived. We slept in the airport terminal across the uncomfortable seats or sitting upright.

The two of them had seen me parting from my parents crying at the start of our journey. My grandpa and the husband both got to talking, both being veterans, about their travels and grandchildren. The two of them had a unique schedule to maintain citizenship and see family where they would travel to spend half the year in each country and see all their family members and grandchildren in both countries. When the lady heard I was leaving my parents for the first time and I was stuck sleeping in the terminal with no blankets or pillows, she practically adopted me!

She wrapped her blanket around her large water bottle and gave it to me as a pillow, and she tucked me in under her big warm jacket, and she sat next to me and patted me to sleep. The next morning, she told me to pick one of her charms on her cell phone to take with me for good luck. I picked an owl-shaped charm she had. She told me it was made of tigers eye for courage, and shaped like an owl for wisdom, and I had made a very good pick! I gave her a bracelet from my suitcase that I had made.

It has been quite some time since then. I don't know where she is now, or if she is still alive even. I hope she is, or that she is spending all the time she wants with her family and grandchildren. She had so much love that poured out like an ocean. I hope she still has a great life that she wants and is still living it fully!

[fancypengy]

Aw, this is a great topic. At my first (non-religious) concert I ever went to, which unfortunately was for Panic! At The Disco, I was behind this girl (probably late-teens-early-20s to my 14yo self at the time) and she was just the most beautiful person I'd ever seen. I just remember she had a lot of tattoos and was generally kind of androgynous and alternative-looking. After the concert I sheepishly told her I thought she was really pretty before leaving, which I'm super glad I did because complimenting people is the best and we should all be doing it everyday but yeah :] still think about her sometimes weirdly enough LOL. Gay awakenings are wild

[Eunice]

Being an old lady in my 60's, I have a lot of interactions with strangers when I'm out and about. I talk to people at the bus stop, anyone really. One day I decided to walk up Penglais Hill to get to the university. If you know Aberystwyth, you'll know that it is very steep. I stopped half way to catch my breath and just had to say, to a chap walking down the hill, "this seemed like a good idea at the time. I must have been mad!". He laughed, well, we both laughed. And that was it. I like to think he remembers that nutty old lady with the walking stick who just had to walk up Penglais hill, when most students take the bus like sensible people.

[Audball]

I had a friend visiting from New York one year, me, them, and my girlfriend at the time were meandering around downtown when a guy passed us and looked back and said "Satan won't save you, y'know."

My visiting friend looks VERY alternative (neon green hair, all black clothes, sometimes spikes on clothes, that stuff) so I assume it was comment on how they look but...idk! My brain just goes back to that often.

Also another time downtown I had a homeless guy on a yellow bicycle asking for money in rhyme. I don't remember all his rhymes but one I do remember was "if you give me a dollar I won't holler" and it made me chuckle so I gave him a dollar.

[boreal_cryptid]

this topic actually reminded me about the power of kindness from strangers, even if it's something simple...

i was 17 y.o. in this situation. i remember being in a big city (originally i'm from the village/small town), running around to drop off documents at different unis. i was deep in a depressive episode and didn’t have any safe spaces to relax. so i went to the store to buy some candies. anything but going home. i was on the verge of tears, but not quite crying, you know? then, as i was picking out candies, a middle-aged man doing the same asked if i was okay. he called me 'kid' and didn’t use any gendered words (in Ukrainian language you usually use gendered verbs, even in direct conversation). and it's not like mindless "how are you?" when you need to respond "i'm fine, thanks", but like... really genuine interest and worry? i was kinda isolated in that big city with no chance to meet with my friends from my village. so... i still remember how he looked at me. felt like if he was my father or relative, lol. in a good way. 

second situation: i was around 7 or 8 years old. as i mentioned, i lived in a village, but my school was in a nearby town, so i had to take the bus. its schedule had long intervals, unlike the in-town buses. one time, i was so tired after school that i got on the wrong bus, one that went to a different village. i was terrified. started to panic a little and looked out the windows, trying to figure out where i was. the bus driver and a few passengers noticed and helped me. they dropped me off at a stop where i could wait for another bus to take me back, and they explained what i needed to do.