What insignificant, forgettable action by another person turned out to have a life-changing, positive impact on you?

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1. some people forgot to put on a condom on

2. Sometimes I get randomly dazed and unobservant. My friends know this and as far back as in high school, absent-mindedly grab my sleeve or put an arm out across my body to make sure I don’t accidentally step into a road when there’s oncoming traffic. I would say this was overkill, but when I actually became conscious of this, I realized that this was something they all regularly did. So there’s probably been some instances of saving my life.

   Since it’s a habit, I can’t call it forgettable, but no one has ever treated it as a significant action that they do for me. It’s made me wonder if they would have group meetings about me, which is a weird idea except I know it’s occurred to plan far reaching pranks on me.

3. One time I saw this old many playing cards with one of his best friends at a restaurant. I started carrying Uno cards and it has made going out to eat fun. Even when the service gets bad, at least we are excited to play a game. It also helps getting the waiter’s attention!

4. I used to work in a famous restaurant/high end grocery store and it was hell on earth. A coworker asked me what I’d ideally do with my life. Without really thinking I said “Thinking about what I want just leads to disappointment so I don’t.” She was horrified and gently prodded and encouraged me to dream bigger.

   It’s the kind of thing that could’ve been rude but she was so sweet to me.

5. We were 5m late, I can’t even remember why…. So we missed al our connections, we had a full day of travel, so the gap became hours and we didn’t make it to our planned event. 10 people got killed there that night…

6. Someone told me I have nice smile back in middle school. It wasn’t an adult, it was a peer whom I wasn’t even friends with. Her words stuck with me so much I adore my smile from that day on, and people always say the same thing too.

7. There’s a jeep in my neighborhood that doesn’t move. It has cobwebs under it and I’m shocked the HOA hasn’t gotten on their cases.

   I grew up with Karen’s as parents and that mindset seeped into my thinking sometimes without me realizing it.

   My new roommate and I were driving by the jeep and he said “man I would love to hear all the stories that jeep can share”. I realized THAT is the mindset I’d like to carry on, and not the complaining my parents have always done.

8. Anytime I’m somewhere sitting alone, whether I’m fine with it or not, and another woman sits with me and tries to get to know me and make me feel comfortable. Sometimes I would’ve been fine being ignored because I just wanted to have an introvert moment, but I really appreciate that someone would’ve seen me and had no obligation to interact with me but wanted to do something kind in case I was feeling lonely.