Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Nothing worth doing is easy.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

The willow is too close to the house.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

I was promised a recession.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

No one could have predicted…

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Make The World A Better Place / Acts of Kindness: Missed Connections Not So Missed

Acts of Kindness: Missed Connections Not So Missed

by | 53 Comments

This post is in: ,

Steeplejack sent this to me last week on a day I really needed the reminder of the goodness in the world:

Thread reader is not working, so I’m going to try and add the remainder here. If you can, click on the tweet and read her entire thread and the beautiful replies.

Her son Harry’s name. A fresh wound that. Six months is not a long time. But it was done with no extra fuss. Like a teacup spilling over. Tears just happen and you wipe at the weepage and continue your nice conversation. Cracked eggs to make an omelet sort of thing. Her son had been the head docent at the Holocaust museum here in town. She worried her bags of bagels were inconveniencing me and I laughed.

She appreciated my Russian and the accent was good enough that she launched into a story that I caught about half of before strategically steering us back to English. I can’t argue politics in Russian. And she wanted to talk politics. We got to her house and she invited me to come in to show me her things. She’d been a teacher at a Jewish school. She told me about all her famous students.

Authors who’d invited their grade school teacher to their book release party. I know about this because I read the publisher’s personal invitation. Out loud for her to hear again while she smiled at the memory. Kirk FaceTimed me and there was my face and Barbara’s grinning over my shoulder to greet

him. So they happily met. When I left her I wandered all the way to Sweet Lady Jane to get a coffee and ogle their beautiful pastries. Yay, I finally had cell. I looked at the smart phone and laughed.

Last time I’ll let Apple tell me I have “connectivity issues.” Because that’s just not true. I’ll call on her tomorrow. But I’ll introduce you all tonight. Everyone, this is Barbara. My new best friend. I’ll leave you with this type written wisdom from Barbara’s refrigerator.

Image

 

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O. Felix Culpa sent this to me, and I had actually meant to bookmark it when I saw it last Sunday, so I’m happy for the reminder.

==================

Steeplejack sent this gift link to NYT:

His talent for creating realistic documents helped children, their parents and others escape deportation to concentration camps, and in many cases to flee Nazi-occupied territory.

Worth a read for sure.

==========================

And we all should have this much joy. You go Sebastian:

I know lots of you have been sending me Kindness, and it’s much appreciated. May still be a while before I get back to regularly posting them. Between tax season and my newest book heading to the publisher in the next week or so (still finalizing the cover and how best to format the recipes), I’m going all out these days.

Gonna be sub-zero this weekend and you know what that means! Ducks in the bathtub. I’ll post some video or photos if I’m not running on empty by then.

On the cooking blog, I’ve been focusing on meal shortcuts lately. Tonight I’m going to do frozen spinach ravioli lasagna. Last week it was Air Frying Frozen Potstickers. Not everything has to be a gourmet meal, but it does have to be tasty.

Meanwhile, here’s Trixie being Trixie and poor Scout.

Acts of Kindness: Missed Connections

Remember to be kind to yourself.

Tell us about some of the good news in your world…

 

Reader Interactions

53Comments

  1. 1.

    Miss Bianca

    Sweet stories. Made me puddle up a bit. Feeling sentimental, must be my new puppy being here, watching her run around and be a happy baby. Just hoping Watson will stop growling and start playing with her, but he actually let her sniff him with no drama while we were all outside…baby steps, baby steps…

  5. 5.

    TaMara

    I meant to start the ball rolling with good news in my world, but got sidetracked by the pups.

    My good news this week is that my dad, after being in the hospital and now in rehab since Christmas, is looking good and should be home in a week or two.  Should have a full recovery from pneumonia.  He’s pretty independent for 85 and is looking forward to being home and sleeping in his own bed. Although he does like the attention of the nurses and staff…most he knows – small town, and he’s always been civically active.

  8. 8.

    TaMara

    @Miss Bianca: Congrats! We may need photos. Scout has been a pill since Bixby died. I think her internal dialogue is basically, you’re not Bixby, you’re not Bixby, and you’re not Bixby when she looks at me, Trixie and Jasper. But she’s finally started having some fun with Jasper outside. Happy to play chase and a good game of tug with him. She and Trixie have a pretty good relationship, too, as you can see. LOL

    ETA: Before that is was all snarls and growling

  9. 9.

    Steeplejack

    Here’s some kindness for Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Video included.)

    Nicholas Winton helped 669 Jewish children escape the Nazis. His efforts went unrecognized for 50 years. Then in 1988, while sitting as a member of a TV audience, he suddenly found himself surrounded by the kids he’d rescued, now adults.

    I like to remember this every Jan 27th.
    pic.twitter.com/uq998DaRH6

    — Gurwinder (@G_S_Bhogal) January 27, 2023

  12. 12.

    TaMara

    In other good news, my friend who adopted kitten Frank and I are going to a Cat Cafe this next week. She’s thinking they need another cat, now that they’ve lost both their bunnies, and Frank needs someone to help him expend all this energy he seems to have.

  13. 13.

    trollhattan

    Cooler heads prevailed. Oh, wait…

    January 28, 2023 at 12:07 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

    A four-star Air Force general sent a memo on Friday to the officers he commands that predicts the U.S. will be at war with China in two years and tells them to get ready to prep by firing “a clip” at a target, and “aim for the head,” NBC News reports.

    Said Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command: “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025.”

    Thanks general, I’ll put this on my “List of shit to wake up over.”

  14. 14.

    Miss Bianca

    @TaMara: oh, I am glad to hear that your lot got over the drama, finally! I wanted a female puppy because I figured Watson would be less territorial with a female than a male. He’s lived most of his life with female dogs, after all. But he seems put out by the idea that *he’s* not the baby any more. Just hoping he gets over it sooner rather than later, because I can tell she would love to be playing with him.

    Meanwhile, however, she’s a delight. Smart, sweet, and just all around adorable. Photos will follow soon. :)

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    Don Jr. + hair gel + camera + fresh bucket shipping container of cocaine = this.

    Link

    Finally, a proper Chuck Todd substitute.

  16. 16.

    West of the Rockies

    Following the advice of the typed message on the old woman’s refrigerator, I will not delay expressing gratitude to you, TaMara,  for a lovely, teary thread.  I shared the Kominsky story with my wife, daughter, and sister.*

    *For those living in Tennessee, those are actually three different people.

  17. 17.

    SFAW

    The “Let me do it now” affirmation reminds me a little of Phil Ochs’s “When I’m Gone.”

    A great song, and one that I too-often forget to attend to.

  18. 18.

    MomSense

    Youngest kid has friends over to play DnD.  I made Belgian Waffles for breakfast and I’m just about to make a cauliflower and tofu curry for lunch and a black bean soup and guac for their dinner.  I’m meeting oldest and his girlfriend for dinner at a taco bar.

    Middle kid brings his dog to work most days – they have a dog friendly office where all the dogs have job titles.  They are all doodles.  He sent me a photo of his Friday meeting and it was a big dog sitting in the chair across from his desk.  They have so much fun at work.  The dogs have their own employee lounge with a big couch they all sleep on together.  He thinks a good many of their clients go to them because of the dogs.

  19. 19.

    West of the Rockies

    @MomSense:

    Your kid and their friends must have upscale tastes!  My daughter would have liked the waffles, but pizza and Mac ‘n’ cheese would have been requested over the curry, etc.  Now, at 21, she’d like it though.

  21. 21.

    BruceFromOhio

    Thank you so much, TaMara. I made it most of the way through reading Barbara’s story to MrsFromOhio before the tears started. Please keep warm, and a duck pic later would be great.

    Break a leg on the book!

  22. 22.

    CaseyL

    Thank you for these, TaMara.  It’s good to have uplifting stories on a (semi-) regular basis!

  25. 25.

    Keith P.

    And the final tweet – “I got home and thought to myself, ‘Wait, where’s my watch?!?!?!'”

  27. 27.

    tobie

    This is a sweet story but it hurts to read. My father is dying. The trauma of his life is being alone in Berlin on Kristallnacht. His mother / my grandmother had gone to Dachau to get her husband / my grandfather released. He had tried to buy forged passports in Belgium so the family could leave Europe–they were stateless Jews — but the Belgian police caught him and turned him over to the German authorities. My father has suffered PTSD all his life for what happened that night. He’s in a temporary nursing home and out of fear of what’s happening to him, he’s lost all purchase on reality. It’s hard to explain how 1938 lives on in 2023 but it does. May all your weekends be more peaceful than mine right now.

  38. 38.

    StringOnAStick

    I’ve volunteered to help a fairly new  wildlife rescue and rehabilitation non-profit get their landscape situation worked out.  They put in a large pollinator garden last year, but no irrigation system so volunteers hand watered it all last summer.  I’m a skilled drip irrigation installer and they’ve got lots of volunteer labor and potential grant money for materials for all sorts of projects.

  39. 39.

    Ohio Mom

    @tobie: I grew up around Holocaust survivors, I know how 1938, and all through the end of the war, never ends.

    I am so sorry for what your dad and you are going through right now. Hang in there, we are holding you in our thoughts.

  48. 48.

    LiminalOwl

    @tobie: I am so sorry that your father suffered that, both the initial trauma and the aftermath.  Much sympathy to him, and also to you who have to suffer with him now. Generational trauma is a very real thing.

  51. 51.

    StringOnAStick

    @tobie: I’m sorry your family and your father are dealing with this currently.  A trauma like he suffered is a lifetime scar on the psyche.  I wish your father and your family peace.

Comments are closed.