Strangers.....

When I was in San Francisco ages ago I met a delightful man and we had drinks and he lived in the hills of Oakland. He was a very nice person. Had a nice time.
 

It was the early 1980s, a sunny summer morning, and I was just leaving our nice suburban home to go to work. It was our trash collection day and our cans were lined up near the road. As I was walking to my car, I noticed a scruffy-looking guy pawing around in the trash. I started toward him and angrily yelled something like "Hey! Get the hell out of there!"

"Sorry. I was just looking for (returnable) bottles" was his reply as he quickly shuffled away. It was clear from his speech and his manner that he was a mentally handicapped person. I immediately felt like the utter jerk that I was.

That was almost 40 years ago and I've never forgotten. That memory is a caution to me whenever I start to get too full of myself.

 
My wife! Met her in March 2000, married in March 2001 and still going very strong. A "stranger" that turned into...……"the Love Of My Life".
 
I can recall when I was around 9 years old..being taken into a children's home . As was the case several times previously, but we were taken without any explanation from my parents, we'd just be told to get dressed and we were going to be collected, .. where to,? for how long?.. would we see our parents again? ..we never knew !!
Up until then it had only ever been me that had been either fostered or placed in a children's home... but this time , there was 3 of us, 2 younger siblings and me!!

A woman came for us in a Taxi ( retrospectively years later realising it was a social worker of some sort) ... we didn't know her nor even know her name and we were scared witless.

She tried to calm us, but we sat there absolutely mute with fear as we drove miles through the city and out the other side to another county...

She must have realised how scared we were.. and instructed the cab driver to stop..and made us promise we wouldn't escape out of the cab while she went into the shop..

As soon as she left, my little brother wanted to run..but I was only 9, he was 8 and my sister was just 6 years old , we didn't know where we were and we were right in a high traffic city , so I convinced him not to jump out....a few minutes later the social worked returned with a huge handful of sweets (candy)... and gave them to us!!

We thanked her for the sweets .. we'd rarely had sweets from our parents up until then, so 3 packets of sweets each was like Christmas for us, but we still stayed quiet ...

I never saw that woman again, only that once.. but I remember her kindness to this day for 3 terrified little kids... who were frozen with fear
 
I was stranded at midnight several miles from home with no money. A security guard of my race offered to take me home. Another guard, of a different race than I am, warned me he was trouble, and offered to take me home after his shift. Who to choose?

I choose the guard of the different race-a leap of faith. He drove me straight home, no problem at all.
 
During the Great Chicago Snowstorm of 1967, I was waiting to take the train to a party. Only one other person was in the station with me, a very pretty woman of around 25. I was 14. We talked for about an hour, in the bitter cold, as the train was running off schedule. There was a magical vibe between us. By the time the train arrived, it was clear that I'd miss the party. I said goodbye to the woman, and trudged back home. More than fifty years later, I remember her.
 
Aneeda72 said:
I was stranded at midnight several miles from home with no money. A security guard of my race offered to take me home. Another guard, of a different race than I am, warned me he was trouble, and offered to take me home after his shift. Who to choose?

I choose the guard of the different race-a leap of faith. He drove me straight home, no problem at all.
Click to expand...

Pleased you got home safe , How long ago was that Aneeda?
 
I was 17. It was when I was living at the Salvation Army home for young woman in Los Angeles. I had not dated before and this guy took me on a date, went into the bathroom, and never returned. I had no sense of how to get home and no money. Called my dad who refused to come get me. There were two active serial killers in California then.

My guardian angel was working overtime that night. I learned to always carry taxi money to get home, but didn’t date again for a couple of years.
 
About 15yrs ago I was at the Doctor's with my husband. He told me to go wait in the waiting room while the Doctor ran a test on him. So the waiting room was crowded and I went and stood outside for awhile. A woman came up to me yelling and pulling on my jacket. She was yelling "Do I look fat to you,my husband says I look fat." I got really scared. Fortunately a guard was there and pulled her off me. I ran back inside. She is one person I will never forget !
 
A few years ago the hubby,myself and my Mom decided to take a trip out west. Our van broke down in Texas and we were towed to the smallest town I'd ever seen. It was going to take hours to have our van fixed and my Mom and I settled down on a very greasy dirty sofa in the garage for the long wait.

About 15 minutes later a man came in who seemed to know the owner of the garage well. It wasn't long when he introduced himself to us and began making fascinating conversation about the area and ranching. He told us about the famous king Ranch and his ranching experiences as well. The time flew by and soon we were on our way. I don't remember his name but he certainly left an impression I'll never forget. He made what could have been a very miserable day into an enjoyable experience.
 
My husband was a stranger when I first met him in 1965 when I was 15 and he was nearly 18, his much older brother and wife were friends of my parents. My father instructed me to be nice to the young man I was about to meet when they were all visiting my home island, I didn't relish that instruction, having no interest in boys at the time. Anyway I obeyed and we married four years later. My father had four daughters to dispose of, so the first man with prospects who came calling was ok with him. I am still being 'nice' to my husband all these years later, although he doesn't always appreciate my niceness!;)
 
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