Celebrating Thankfulness - #41-60 - The Kindness of Strangers

This week, I am most thankful for the kindness of strangers.  On Saturday, my husband and I attended my son's swim meet.  I love seeing my children compete in the pool, and with two year-round USA swimmers - I see a lot of swim meets, but swim meets are not the most comfortable events to attend for parents.  Swim meets are very long, usually quite hot, and always have uncomfortable and often inadequate seating.  Swim parents are great people, as long as you're not infringing on their carefully guarded space in the stands.  I have often thought that swim meets would be happier events if ushers were used to seat the swim parents. 

We arrived on Saturday at a particularly bad time to find seats in the stands.  The morning session had run over (as usual) so all of the folks who were there for the morning session had not left yet and all of the folks who were coming for the afternoon session were arriving and looking for seats.  We scanned the stands looking for a space to sit.  Time and again, when we approached some empty spots we were told loudly and firmly, "Somebody is already sitting there" or "Those seats are saved." 

Imagine our surprise when we heard a complete stranger yell to us, "There's some space over here.  I'll move over and make more room for you two."  We were so happy to have seats and even more delighted that our seats had a bit of back support.  We thanked her again and again for her kindness and enjoyed the next 8 hours we spent in our as comfortable as swim meet seating gets comfortable seats. 

41.  The kindness of a stranger who moved over so my husband and I would have a place to sit at my son's swim meet this past week-end.

42.  We had some good friends stop by unexpectedly.  I am thankful that I had some yummy baked goods in the freezer that I could quickly defrost and offer to them with coffee and tea.

42.  The fellowship of good friends over a warm beverage and a delicious, homemade dessert.

43.  Sitting in one of the few places in the stands at my son's swim meet with a place to rest my back.

44.  I am so thankful that the kids on our new swim team are friendly and have helped my children feel at home on their new team.

45.  Decaf Venti Lattes from Starbucks

46.  I am thankful that I can store, organize, and order prints of my photos from the comfort of my home using Shutterfly.

47.  Getting together for girl time and scrapbooking with my good friend.

48.  The fresh-scrubbed faces of teenage girls without a hint of make-up.

49.  Boxed cake mixes.

50.  The convenience of ordering books (and just about everything else) on Amazon.