BJ and I rarely go out to eat, mainly because we just like being home. When we do go out to eat, it's typically breakfast. We have a place "Ma's Diner" (seriously! that's what it's called!) that we've gone to many times, but it looked really busy and there was no parking. So off we went to another hole-in-the-wall diner that I've noticed many times because it's right by the train station where I used to pick up the train to go in to work.

...the breakfast was great, by the way.

The woman that seated us and then waited on us was, I'd guess, in her 60's. She wore a LOT of makeup and had on a white silk (looking) blouse. You could tell that her appearance was important to her and I'm guessing she was quite a 'looker' back in the day.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened, at least in my opinion. For example, I didn't offer to pick up the dishes, take them back and wash them for her. But what happened when we went to leave was very out of the ordinary.

We went to the cash register to pay and she handed me an envelope that had something in it. She smiled at me, said "God bless you" and told me to not open it until we'd left the restaurant.

I did as I was told and waited until we were in the car. In the envelope was a little bracelet made of beads the color of amber, and a card that read, "Thank you for being so kind". BJ just looked at me and chuckled, saying "what *is* it about you and strangers?"

I get that sort of thing a lot and BJ is getting used to it. I'm honestly not aware that I'm doing anything extraordinarily kind, but I am 'that person' that gets hugs from the shuttle driver (happened to me twice in less than a month, by two different shuttle drivers.) I think most people would be a little weirded out by being hugged by a virtual stranger, but I take it as a compliment because I know that I've done something to touch them emotionally and that's how they expressed it back to me.

The last shuttle driver that hugged me wouldn't even let me tip him, saying that having me as a passenger brightened his day. We were only together for about an hour. I don't remember anything in particular that we talked about that would have been a big deal.

Things like this make me wonder why being treated with kindness seems so unusual to people. I act upon the belief that we should all be kind and treat everyone like we'd want to be treated, but the actions of these people make me think that this is not the norm. It's as if they're not used to someone being kind to them, which makes me sad.

Of course, being this way does get me into many situations whereby I'm cornered by someone that wants to unload on me. I guess I just have to take the bad with the good.

I'm trying to think of a place to keep that bracelet so I can look at it often, thankful that someone took the effort to let me know that I made them feel good- because that makes ME feel good.

It's such a simple thing- being nice.