I can relate to the second part.
The guy next to me on a plane once woke me up when the flight attendant came around with ice cream AND got an ice cream so that I could have 2. I'll never forget that man.
I have done this for someone before! Except the person asleep next to me was my husband. And I didn't wake him up. And I ate his ice cream.
So cute.
GiphyWhen I was working as a cashier an older man pulled out a dollar and asked if I wanted to see something cool. Slightly skeptical, I said sure. He folded it into a little shoe and gave it to me and it was the cutest thing. Then he told me, "well you cant just have one shoe!" And folded another into a second shoe and I still have them on my desk because I didn't have it in me to unfold them.
There is good in the world.
My daughters and I were living in a homeless shelter after leaving my abusive ex. The shelter rules were that we couldn't be in the building between 8am and 3pm, so every day I'd strap the kids in the stroller the shelter had given me and we'd either walk to the library, the park, or Walmart. Each of the three was at least a mile away. One day it was raining pretty hard and I really didn't want to walk that far in the rain so I went into a diner that was close by. I had about $100 to my name and I really didn't want to be spending it in a restaurant but I also really didn't want to be outside in the pouring rain with my kids. I found a cheap $8 meal on the menu and ordered it and took my sweet time slowly dividing it out and feeding it to my kids while watching the window to see if the rain would let up soon.
Partway through, a woman who had just finished her meal came and said she had some towels in her car and asked if I'd accept them. I said yes and she went out to her car after paying for her food. She ended up getting in her car and driving away and I just thought ok guess she didn't have them in her car after all. Well she came back about 10 minutes later and handed me 2 brand new towels. I wrapped each kid up in one and thanked her. Then not long after, another stranger, a man this time, came over and without a word put a $10 bill on my table before he went to the counter to pay for his own meal and left.
I don't know if either of them had figured out we were homeless or if they just could tell something was wrong, but those two acts of kindness meant so much to me and made such a huge difference in terms of my being able to feel like things would be ok.
Sunburn is the worst.
Not me but my sister. She got severely sunburned while on holidays in Sri Lanka. We thought she was feeling better as she spent the whole previous day in bed. We went on a trip to a waterfall in the jungle (we were friends with locals who brought us). After swimming in the water her skin starts burning to the point where she is in tears and won't let anyone touch her. We have nothing to help her.
Maybe 5 minutes later some local villagers appear with aloe vera plants and proceed to gently rub it onto her skin. Total strangers who saw the situation, went to their house and brought the aloe vera. It was so kind I couldn't believe it. We ended up talking to them and they made us all dinner which we ate together from a bucket in the middle of the jungle. Unforgettable.
How about that?
GiphyHe helped me change a flat tire. Recommended a place for me to go to the next day to get it checked out. When I got there the next morning he had stopped by to drop off his business card and to tell them to take good care of my vehicle. When they called me to tell me that the car was ready they also told me that he had paid for the new tire. Still can't believe it. You don't get people who do that for someone they have never met before.
A kind stranger.
A guy in France I asked for directions. Not only he walked me to the place, but he also kept me company and chatted while I visited it.
He left after 15 mins though because he had an appointment.
People Describe The Worst Adult Tantrum They've Ever Witnessed | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Customers can be cool sometimes.
There's a spot in the building I work at that nobody wants to work in. It's the coldest area in the building because there's an opening that doesn't close and doesn't have heat so you can't even eat food safely because the wind will blow it away. I was moved from where I usually am and wasn't prepared for how cold it would be there. I could barely handle money because my fingers felt frozen.
A customer noticed how cold it was and without even asking if I was cold, he took off his gloves and gave them to me. I have no idea what his name was but it was the most thoughtful thing a complete stranger has ever done for me. I still have the gloves too.
Awww.
GiphyA stranger who used to be a customer at my job took me aside once and told me she has seen my journey over the years and is so proud of me. She started crying and gave me a hug. I wish I could tell her how much that meant to me.
Not a stranger, but a classmate in some college classes. I knew them when I was in the middle of an abusive relationship & was still in school when that relationship ended. That person saw me when I was miserable and then saw me processing life/healing after, and when that person graduated and moved, they told me "I've seen you glow up these past few months. You look great, you're absolutely glowing." Still one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said.
Math brings people together.
I am a college math tutor and I have had strangers at random places tell me I helped them.
It is one of the greatest feelings to exist.
They are not aware, but they helped me more than I helped them.
A good deed.
A year or two ago I was on a long road trip, doing about 90 on the highway. There was a guy behind me for at least two hours, not tailing me but we were both going about the same speed. Out of nowhere he speeds up like crazy, cuts me off and then slows down to the speed limit right in front of me. I had to slam the brakes and I was really pissed off.
Not even a minute later we drove past a cop. After we pass the cop he speeds up to 80-90 again. He must have been using a GPS that alerted him to police on the road; and he was nice enough to cut me off so I wouldn't get a speeding ticket. Was really awesome!
Snow is a natural part of life for some, but many may never get to see it in real life.
It would be hard to imagine what it's like to have soft specks of ice fall on top of you from the sky. Seeing snow in movies and on television, it's always portrayed as beautiful and appearing only around Christmas. But people who live in areas where it snows know that it can be pretty, and also a nuisance.
Redditor u/ambermage asked, "People who have experienced snow; what is it like?" and received both poetic and blunt descriptions of what it's really like to deal with snow.
10. Beautiful and terrifying
When everything is blanketed and not touched, it's beautiful and everything is absolutely silent (at least where I live). But it is terrifying to drive on poorly plowed roads. Once it starts melting and there is some snow piles here and there it looks ugly, especially when it turns grey/black from all the cars.
9. Fun... at first
"Fun for the first few days then you really would just like feeling back in your fingers and toes."
8. People forget how to drive
"Beautiful to look at when its untouched. But a nightmare to drive or walk in.
For everyone who's saying that driving in the snow is fun, you're right. Personally I find alot of other people dont know how to drive in the snow, so I avoid going out if I dont have too."
7. Avoid yellow snow
Giphy
"Looks pretty the first day. Then turns brownish and it's gross to see where the dogs have peed. Not to mention if it gets any warmer it turns into ice"
6. How you feel about snow depends on your age
"As a child it's fun because you can throw snowballs, build snowmen, make snow-angels, and go sledding.
As an adult it sucks cause you have to shovel, drive in it, and after a long winter it's just brown/gray and gross looking. And your car gets full of dirt and salt."
5. Heavy...
Heavier than you would think. Shoveling a driveway with a foot of snow feels like shoveling a foot of dirt off your driveway
4. Snow games and glasses don't mix
"When it snows you don't feel wet. You feel wet some minutes later.
When it snows a lot, sounds are filtered and everything looks more silent.
Snowball fights scare me because I wear glasses and it can be dangerous."
3. Lazy rain
"Snow is like lazy rain. If you don't mind the rain and know how to be prepared, you won't mind snow. I personally love the snow. I think cold weather is worthless without snow around."
2. I love this feeling
"It nice when you are outside in a snow storm and it feels like you are the only person on the planet."
1. It sounds how glitter looks...
Giphy
"There's different kinds of snow. There's the sticky snow you can make snowmen and snowballs out of. When sticky snow falls and then the temperature drops really low it gets really hard and you can't do much with it.
Then there's the powdery snow that blows around in the wind and is good for skiing and and snowboarding and sledding. It feels like you're walking on the moon when it's freshly fallen. Sometimes in the morning if you listen closely you can hear it blowing around and it sounds how glitter looks.
A hard layer forms over powdery snow when the sun shines and melts the top layer and then it hardens over night. It's fun to walk on because it makes a crunchy sounds but it's still soft on the bottom...
Depending on how much powdery snow is underneath you can put your whole legs under.
Then there's slush. It usually happens on roads and parking lots and its like someone took a freezee/icee/slushee and dumped it everywhere. It forms puddles and is hard to drive in but fun to jump in with rain boots in the spring.
Sometimes in the middle of winter it will get above freezing and slush will form but then freeze during the night If it doesn't get plowed off the road before it freezes then ridges where tires were will freeze and that's also hard to drive on."
In fact, some tattoos have downright adorable backstories.
Reddit user elscharfe asked:
Tattoo artists of Reddit, what is the most wholesome story behind a tattoo you did?
The stories that follow are some of the cutest, sweetest, most heartwarming tattoo tales we've ever heard! There's talk of love, friendship, strength, survival, and coping with loss. It's a fantastic exploration of human wholesomeness. Brace for impending "aww"!
What's Your Name?
For this one, it was homemade (way back in the 80's) and I was both the canvas and the artist.
In college, as we were about to separate for the year, two of my friends and I decided we wanted tattoos. Being in a small town and broke college kids, we decided to do them ourselves. This actually did not go badly as I am diabetic, so we had clean needles to use. We all got a design of our initials - J, M and D - intertwined. I never saw Dave again after that year.
Funny story and why this tattoo is one of my favorites - I have several professional ones I love - is what happened when I met my now husband. He was my one (and only) attempt at a one night stand. He asked about the tattoo on my hip and I explained that is what a design made up of the initials J, D and M. He looked at me funny and asked - "Why do you have my initials on your hip?" I asked him - "What is your name?"
We've been married 26 years now. I guess it was just destined to be.
- mel2mdl
Unicorn
GiphyMy sister did a huge tattoo of a unicorn for a bloke whose 14 year old niece was very sick and loved unicorns. He got it to show her before she passed away.
The Hospital Trip
I've been a tattoo artist for 13 years. Older gentleman client, I'd worked on him and his wife dozens of times. She drops him off to get inked and heads off to run errands. About two hours into the session a call comes in to the reception desk at my shop that his wife had gotten into an accident and was in the hospital. OH SH!T. I wrapped up the line I was running, wrapped him up immediately, and since their car was now totaled I drove him to the hospital myself.
She was ok, we finished his tattoo a few days later.
- BradC
A Sister's Smile
Not a tattoo artist, but I am covered in tattoos. Probably the most meaningful one on my body is done by a professional stick n poke artist (yes those exist). It's a drawing that my little sister did when she was 11, it was a little sketch on the back of her sketch book and it's still my favorite. She's incredibly talented and she constantly looks down at her art because she never feels good enough, mostly because of others around her bullying her. So to see her reaction to her seeing her art as a tattoo was everything. She was so thrilled.
- Novaa240
Trendsetting Grandma
A couple years ago my grandmother (80's) and my aunt (late 50's) came to visit my family. My mother and her sister had agreed to get tattoos. After theirs were done grandma liked them so much that she got one too!
When grandma got back to her nursing home all of her lady friends that lived there with her were jealous of her tattoo, so they got the staff to set them up a trip and they all went and got tattoos.
My grandma is one of the sweetest ladies in the whole world!
- Lmao151
Pink Butterfly
GiphyA friend of mine is a tattoo artist. She got a guy come in with a photo of a tattoo on someone and insisted it be placed in the same place, exactly the same. It was a pink butterfly on the right wrist. When she asked him questions about it, he got defensive and just wanted to get it done. He was a big guy with a nearly full body of tattoos getting a pink butterfly on his wrist.
Anyway, she does the tattoo - only took about 30 minutes - and when he saw the finished tattoo he started to cry. It was his daughter's tattoo, one he took her to get. She had died a couple of weeks before in an auto accident, and he wanted to get her tattoo as a memorial. When he tried to explain beforehand, he kept getting choked up and got defensive automatically (as guys often do).
Englishmen In The States
My ex is a tattoo artist. The most wholesome thing she ever did on someone was two drunk English guys walked into the shop a few minutes before closing. They were best friends on a road trip across the states with the ashes of the 3rd friend that was supposed to go with them. They had been planning it for years. They both got his name tattoo'd on their butts.
The plan for them was to show their @ss to historical places. Apparently the friend wanted to moon Mount Rushmore. They decided that they'd show their butts to all of the historical places they were visiting.
- Fromhe
Survivor
I read a couple months ago about a tattoo artist who had a grandmother and grandchildren come in. The grandchildren wanted tattoos that match their grandmothers.
The grandmother was a concentration camp survivor.
The tattoo artist did the tattoos for free.
Memory Book
It's hard to pick a particular one, because people come in for sentimental reasons all the time. Certainly any memorial piece can be emotional for the client, and since I'm a sympathetic cryer I always end up explaining their aftercare with the 'trying not to cry too' wobble in my voice.
Recently, I did a portrait of a woman's husband with his signature reproduced underneath. She brought in a memory book of photos she'd made of her and him together.
She'd given it to him on his last birthday before he passed from a sudden cancer (two weeks from diagnosis to death). Once the tattoo was done we flipped through the book together and she explained where they were and why he was so wonderful.
Throughout the next few weeks I've had half a dozen people come in raving about the portrait and how much everyone loves it and sharing memories with me about the guy. He was very well loved by the community, and I'm honored I got to tattoo him. :)
She Said Yes
Tattoo artist for about 2 years here. Last winter I had a happy couple in their 20s walk in wanting tattoos. I didn't think much of it because we take walk ins everyday. The girl goes first and got a small heart on her wrist. The guy goes second and gets a traditional diamond tattoo. It's basically just a really simple cartoon version of a diamond. I ask him why he wants this and just says he likes the design, alright no problem. They both leave happy.
A week later I get a message from the girl thanking me for making their tattoo day so special. The guy had proposed to her later that evening after being together for 5 years. He got the tattoo to commemorate their engagement while she had no idea that he was going to propose. This still warms my heart every time I think about it. And also I'm glad she said yes because that would've sucked for him.
Combined Creativity
I was a piercer and during my apprenticeship I worked counter and sat in on tattoos. Dad let a kid draw whatever he wanted on him because the kid had cancer. The kid drew an outline and was having trouble so It wasn't an exact drawing the kid did but the artist stayed in the outline asked questions like " do you want me to color it in?" "do you want it real or like a stuffed animal?"
He basically used both their creativity to fill out the middle of the outlines the kid did and it actually looked really good. Dude has a pink and purple fat stuffed unicorn with its tongue sticking out on chest over his heart. The artist took a photo and it's was in the binder you can look through of his work on the counter but the story is not.
This Too
My best friend died in an accident right after we started college. Her dad is a tattoo artist so we always talked about getting our first ones together. What I wanted changed pretty much constantly, but she always wanted "This too shall pass" on her wrist. A few months after she passed I went to her dads shop and he tattooed it on me. It was always going to be a special one, but having her dad do it made it much more.
Kitty
GiphyI had a kid come in that was moving from home, probably for college, and he had to leave his kitty behind. So he wanted to get her paw print on the spot she normally rests her paw. It almost brought tears to my eyes because I adore my cat and couldn't imagine leaving her.
Scars Into Beauty
I did a big flower piece; a cover up of self harm scars that went all up a girl's forearm and she wanted to have them covered before her college graduation ceremony. Her mom came in a few weeks later and got tattooed. Mom told me how important that was to her daughter and how happy she is to no longer have to see the bad memories on her body.
Both have been steady clients since and always remind me how much that tattoo changed her self confidence and helped her move past that part of her life.
Honestly being a tattooer can desensitize you to how much certain tattoos mean to people but situations like that always bring me genuine positive vibes x1000 knowing that my work can have such a lasting impact. Much love to all those overcoming a rough patch.
The Last Letter
I tattooed a girl, her aunt and mother... all the same day. The girl had gone through chemo and was waiting on results of her cancer.... I was tattooing the phrase "just let go"
I kid you not, as I finished the last letter and wiped the tattoo the girl got a phone call before I could even clean it off. It was her doctor calling - she had been cleared of cancer and cancer free!! It was emotional for us all. But what timing it was to get the call just as the last letter was done. I hope she is doing well.
Vitiligo
Obligatory not a tattoo artist, but I asked the woman doing a time-intensive piece on me what her most unusual experience had been and her answer was really interesting and sort of ties in with this question, so I thought I'd share.
She had done a few of the nipple-replacement ones on mastectomy patients that others have mentioned, which is really cool, but she had done something sort of equivalent and *much* less common on a guy... See, he had a lot of vitiligo patches all over his body, and he was darker skinned. It had taken him many years to get over the self-esteem issues that had arisen from this, and he had finally, *finally* built up enough confidence (in his early thirties) to start talking to ladies. He was a really charming guy, and after a few false starts, had met a lady who he really liked, and the feeling was mutual. They had been dating for a few months and things were getting pretty serious - he really thought this was his soul mate, his happy-ever-after. There was just one problem...
The very worst of his vitiligo was over his groin. He'd never had anyone but a doctor see it, and he was terrified that this woman he wanted to marry would reject him when she saw it. So my tattoo artist spent a couple of months painstakingly (and painfully!) filling in all these vitiligo patches all over his crotch, over his testes and his penis. Nothing at all fancy, just literally very carefully colouring in all the white until it matched the rest of his skin and you had to look really closely to even tell. Took an ungodly amount of time because, well obviously he could only handle very short bursts, but when it was finally done, he cried and cried and cried.
She got an invitation to his wedding about 8 months later. Said it was the most amazing feeling she had ever got from tattooing anyone, seeing the difference it made to him.
Tattoos have all sorts of meanings to the one getting inked. Do you have a wholesome tattoo story to share? Please drop it in the comment section below.
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