What Is . . . The Kindness of Strangers Part 2

Three months ago I wrote about the kindness of strangers, specifically my neighborhood mailman. It’s funny (in an amazing way, at least for me) how, when things get really rough, strangers seem to know exactly what to do. Well, let me be clear, friends and family have been really great at this too—thanks friends and family! But this post is about strangers . . .

I had a really bad day a couple of weeks ago, like, so ridiculously bad that it should be in a sitcom, even though that sounds counterintuitive. I was both emotionally depleted and physically injured—you can see the edge of a bandaid in the photo. And what do I do when I need to feed my soul? I go to the ballet, of course! (As a side note, if you are anywhere where the Dutch National Ballet’s Frida also is, I insist that you go.) But I also felt like I needed to buy evil eye jewelry ASAP, because boy do I need the protection right now.

Now back to strangers and how kind they can be: I was sitting by myself at a table outside the theater for the ballet. Because all the tables were taken, three women asked if they could share my table. We began to chat. It turns out the youngest had met the two older women the week before and had brought gifts for them. She had one extra because she had been expecting a third woman, but, instead of that woman, I happened to be there. So, she gave that gift to me—someone she didn’t even know.

The gift was a charm bracelet that she had made. As you can see in the (blurry) photo, one of those charms was a pearl with an evil eye on it.

I’m pretty sure I don’t need to explain anymore except, with this kind gift from a stranger, I felt seen and protected.

So, always trust in the kindness of strangers (or the universe or whoever was listening to what I needed that day). And, as always . . .

Stay Curious.