Write about a random act of kindness you’ve done for someone.
Years ago, like 20+ years ago, I was taking a college psychology class, and I met a girl who was taking the same class with the same professor but a different part of the day than me. So, we weren’t in class together. She did not have the money to buy the text book. My dad bought my books for me. So, in the evenings, I would write out the portions of the book she needed for assignments, exams, and quizzes in an e-mail and send it to her. It was very time consuming. I’m not even sure if that’s legal, likely not as it was enough for her to not have to buy the book. But it helped her immensely, and I don’t regret it lol I know what it’s like to not have enough money for something essential. And I remember having no idea what I would do if my dad did not buy my books. Where do they think an 18 year old is going to get $500+?
Back then, these phones with the cameras and all weren’t really a thing or as popular yet. And I had no scanner and never really thought of making copies somewhere, which would have been much easier. So, I spent hours just sitting there writing the text out for a complete stranger I never even met face to face.
I met her in a group online where she wrote that she couldn’t buy the book yet and was desperate for help and pleaded with anyone to send her the content. I could feel the desperation in her posts. She had no idea what to do. No one else responded, so I did. Saved her ass 😆
I love posts like this because it’s uplifting & heartwarming & inspiring to see the goodness in humans. When we share our acts of kindness, it can inspire others to be kind or just brighten their day.
(I have sunscreen & olive oil on my skin/hair, so if I look greasy, that’s why 😆)
I’m bleeding out So if the last thing that I do Is bring you down I’ll bleed out for you So I bare my skin And I count my sins And I close my eyes And I take it in I’m bleeding out I’m bleeding out for you, for you
I donated platelets! Just eight days after donating whole blood!
This is my first platelet donation in a few years.
It takes hours hooked up to a machine with a needle and tube in both arms, for platelet donation. We’re restrained and can only move our legs and neck. The arms have to lay straight, can’t bend them or anything, the tubes in each one are hooked up to a machine. Can’t even look at our phone because we can’t hold anything. They do put a movie on for us. I watched “Jaws,” and the Red Cross nurse said “You picked a hell of a movie to watch while donating blood.” 🤣
Getting an itch or runny nose is the worst, there’s nothing that can be done about it. Just have to let the snots drip and itch go unscratched. I have allergies, so I tend to sneeze/get a runny nose. If you sneeze, you can’t cover your mouth & nose lol Awkward
The machine takes our blood through one arm and takes the platelets out of the blood, then it puts the rest of our blood back into our body through the other arm. They also have to inject us with stuff to reduce risk of blood clot and whatever else. It’s very, very, very rare, but I recently learned there’s a risk of death while donating platelets or any blood, even the simple whole blood routine. Say what??? Apparently, the risk is so low it’s not even worth mentioning to us, but I read it online.
It’s freezing cold when donating platelets. It’s something to do with whatever is happening to the body. It happens to anyone who donates platelets. It feels like being in a freezer even if the room is heated. They put a heated blanket on us and give us hand warmers, but eventually the heat runs out. We can probably request more.
They said most people don’t have this problem, but it makes me sick and lightheaded. Platelet donation always has. I feel like I’m going to pass out, even laying down. The feeling comes & goes throughout the donation. When I walk out after it’s over, I feel “under the weather.” I’m also all stiff because of not moving for hours. It also makes my whole face tingle and my fingertips. I don’t have this experience when donating whole blood, which is what I usually donate. I think it’s side effects of whatever they’re injecting me with, not the loss of platelets/blood doing this. There was one point where I thought, yeah, I’m not doing this again. Ever. Like ever. The next day, I’m back to my usual self.
The Red Cross said they need my platelets more now because of the ongoing platelet shortage crisis. We can donate once a week. They said the platelet crisis is extreme, there are so many more in need than are donating.
I guess I’m going to have to suck it up.
Me, after donating whole blood recently. (Again, the oily look is because I put various things on to protect my hair & skin against the elements)
It’s amazing that there are people sitting there hooked up to a machine for hours having parts of their body taken out for complete strangers. The Red Cross doesn’t pay their donors, but they occasionally give gifts and prize opportunities. They especially love platelet donors (and O blood donors because it’s the most needed blood type). The donors are getting nothing tangible out of it.
I was pleasantly surprised at how many other platelet donors were in there donating.
For the people who say people suck and there are no more good people, let’s remember our platelet donors. They are laying there for hours on a machine, some every week, giving parts of their own body away for people they’ll never meet. They aren’t just giving their body parts away but a significant amount of their time and some of their own comfort & health. And getting nothing in return.
I’m not a dedicated platelet donor, but there are people who are. There are people who haven’t missed a donation in many years. I would like to donate once a week and have tried before, but they said my body doesn’t produce enough platelets to keep giving them away. It only really makes enough for itself. Stingy bone marrow. Lol I also don’t want to risk becoming anemic, which can happen with frequent blood donation. I probably won’t donate every week, but if I have enough, I’ll try to frequently.
Donated platelets often go to cancer patients and organ transplant patients when theirs are too low.
I’m glad I donated, and even though it kind of makes me sick, it also uplifts me to know it’s going to help someone else, likely cancer patients. They have to sit in a chemo chair every week and a platelet transfusion chair, having no choice, I’m just in the donation chair, which is a gift. The least I can do is share that fortune with someone else. That’s the thought that motivates me to keep going. 💚
I met Greg when he was on dialysis. Now he’s healthy enough to do everything! In 2023, my mom told me about a Philadelphia man, who was a stranger to me, in urgent need of a new kidney. He wasn’t close enough to the top of the wait list. I looked him up on Facebook & offered him my kidney. It was the easiest decision in the world for me to make. There was no hesitation. I always wanted to regift one of my kidneys to a stranger because I have always had the gift of perfect health & wanted someone else to have that, too. I was already planning on giving one of my kidneys to “the next person on the wait list.”
Greg & me turned out to be not only a perfect match but only living fifteen minutes apart! It turned out that Greg was not cleared for transplant. My clearance for donation was running out. Eventually, I would have had to do the six month long medical/psych evaluation all over again with no guarantee that I would be accepted again. They’re very strict.
So, on 1/16/2024, I did what I always planned and donated my kidney to the next person who could use it, which happened to be a 50 something year old man in Minnesota who I never met & have no contact with. Since I did this through the National Kidney Registry, I was given a kidney voucher to give to anyone in the country. I gave it to Greg, and a year after my kidney donation, Greg received his new kidney through my donation to someone else.
Two lives saved through my one donation! Now I have two kidney brothers. Maybe I’ll meet the other one someday. In May, Greg & me had the honor of being invited to Penn Transplant Institute’s first living organ donor celebration! I am Penn’s first living donor to sign their Donate Life flag that will be hung up at the transplant center!!
🖤
Greg always wanted to do the 3k walk for organ donation, & this year was the first he was healthy enough with his new kidney. We did the walk together!
I’m just as healthy & energetic as I was with two kidneys. The joy of my experience never fades.
My body “lost” a kidney, but I gained a lifelong friend.
What a joy, what a life!
Our story is one for the books!
Donating my kidney is the best thing I ever did. I always say I wish I had 100 more kidneys to give to 100 more people. 💙🫘💚
Now maybe someday The sun’s gonna shine Flowers will bloom And all will be fine
Today is the anniversary of one of the most tragic & horrific events in the history of the city of Philadelphia.
In 2013, six people died right here on the corner of Market Street, pronounced dead at the scene. Some sources also report that a seventh person died of his injuries later in a hospital. It’s hard to find information on that one. Most sources report only six deaths, the six who died at the scene.
Along with the deaths, many received non fatal injuries when a building collapsed on top of them, crushing & trapping them all for hours. Some of them died of suffocation, not dying instantly. The incident occurred in the morning, and bodies were still being discovered that evening, even a living person was pulled out after being trapped all day & night. She lost both of her legs and received the largest settlement in state history. (She has since died of Covidvirus)
The building was a thrift store, and the victims were all workers & customers. The building collapse was completely preventable and the result of the recklessness of the workers next door not following proper protocol while demolishing that building. The building next to the thrift store, while in the process of being demolished, collapsed onto the thrift store. The people involved with the demolition were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to many years in prison.
The building inspector, who was cleared of any wrongdoing and not accused or charged or convicted, felt guilty and took his own life in the aftermath of the tragedy. Everyone agreed that he had no part in the recklessness. There were no violations present while inspecting the building. And no one held it against him. But he expressed overwhelming feelings of guilt & insomnia in a video just before ending his own life in his car one week after the incident. He shot himself.
In my opinion, he is worthy of being remembered as one of the victims and has a place at the memorial even though he’s not officially considered a victim of the collapse.
One heartwarming fact of this tragedy is when the building collapsed, an 18 year old high school student(not sure of the gender), who happened to be walking by, ran into the rubble to try to pull the victims out.
“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”💚
Sharing in honor of all those who died on June 5th, 2013 as the result of a preventable & senseless tragedy. A tragedy that leaves an indelible mark on our city. I wasn’t involved or associated in any way, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was at work that evening, watching the wreckage on the news. Even though it has nothing to do with me, personally, I have been walking around thinking about it with a heavy heart and overwhelming sorrow in my chest.
I remembered it as the date was approaching. I walked by this memorial day after day for so many years, sometimes multiple occasions a day, and never realized it’s the memorial for that event until this year! So, this year, I decided to take a picture and dedicate a post to the victims.
June 5th Memorial Park now stands where the thrift store once was, the very spot that all those people died all those years ago, the spot where their bodies laid, being pulled out of all that devastation that took over the streets and blocked traffic. It’s now a place of hope & healing, according to the Park’s website.
Memorial Park is a very busy place, there’s always people there, often having lunch or coffee on the benches and talking to each other. It’s always sunny there on the corner. When I stand there now, I can’t feel any hint of the tragedy that once struck. To see people alive, eating, drinking, laughing, it doesn’t feel like a dark place where there were once bloodcurdling screams of pain & terror echoing through the streets, where mutilated bodies laid, scattered through the wreckage.
This memorial also serves as a reminder to always be mindful of safety during construction and to honor all the people who helped that day.
There are always people who are helping.
❤️💔
Dedicated to:
Anne Bryan, 24 years old, an art student at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and daughter of former Philadelphia City Treasurer Nancy Winkler
Mary Simpson, 24 years old, an audio engineer who was on a shopping trip with Anne Bryan, her best friend, both girls died together at the scene that day
Roseline Conteh, 52 years old, nursing assistant
Bobor Davis, 68 years old, a five-year Salvation Army employee
Kimberly Finnegan, 35 years old, a cashier working her first shift at the Salvation Army thrift store when she died at the scene, just got engaged to be married
Juanita Harmon, 75 years old, a retired secretary at the University of Pennsylvania
Ray William Johnson, 32 year old man who died later of his injuries.
Ronald Wagenhoffer, 52 years old, building inspector/suicide victim who ended his own life on the one week anniversary of the tragedy
(Words are censored because I posted this on Facebook first and pasted here. Posts can be flagged for words like “blood.” It’s dumb lol “Dumb” would have to be censored on Facebook lol I don’t promote censorship, myself.)
Today is #LivingDonorDay !!! 💙💚
Some body parts we can donate while alive are:
1.) B.lood products 2.) A kidney 3.) A portion of our liver 4.) A portion of our pancreas 5.) A lobe of a lung 6.) Our heart, the whole thing (very, very rare for a living person to donate their heart. Only people with lung failure who get a lung transplant can donate their healthy heart, and they will receive a new heart with their new lungs. The deceased donor gives both together. So their heart gets replaced as soon as it’s removed. This is because some lungs function better with their own heart {the lungs’ own heart} or something like that.) Almost no one knows this is a thing. Even organ donor advocates don’t know it. Lol 7.) A part of our intestines 8.) Stem cells/bone marrow
There may be more that I’m not remembering or don’t know about.
Some people are double living organ donors and donate two organs while alive! Usually a kidney and part of the liver. The last I saw, there’s only like less than 300 double living donors in the U.S. since the 80’s. Not 300 a year but 300 ever. So, it’s quite rare. But, it’s more common than people think. Many of them donate a kidney to a stranger and their liver to a different stranger. Some donate first to someone they know, and love the experience so much they donate again but to a stranger.
When we donate a kidney, the remaining kidney will become enlarged to compensate. Some kidney donors have literally the kidney function of someone with two healthy kidneys where doctors can’t tell by test results that they only have one (like mine – my kidney function is so good that it looks like I still have two when my function is tested). And others have a kidney that functions adequately enough but has the function of only one kidney and may look like kidney disease on test results. But, it’s not, it’s just one kidney.
To donate a kidney, we have to have enough kidney function that even when it declines with aging, we’ll still have enough to last for life. Some people have good kidney function but not enough to share. We have to have above average. My kidney function with two kidneys was almost as good as a teenager’s at nearly forty years old! Lol
When we donate a liver lobe, the remaining portion expands to the size of a full liver and is fully functioning. In the recipient, the same happens. The donated portion expands to a full liver size and functions just as well. Someone cannot donate their liver more than once because it doesn’t literally grow back. It’s just the one portion getting larger.
https://www.matchingdonors.com (like a dating website but instead it’s for people to find their perfect DNA match lol It’s for potential recipients to find a donor or potential donors to find a recipient. Some people wanting to donate to strangers prefer to choose a person instead of donating to whoever is next in the system/on the wait list, which is a random anonymous stranger we may never get to know or may not like)
💚💙🫘
#organdonorssavelives #donatelife
🫘
It’s 4/2 today but will show up as 4/3 because I’m posting this in the evening and too lazy to mess around with it to change it lol.
Words are censored because I may copy & paste to Facebook where certain words can get a post flagged.
This is old news, but I just watched the dramatized movie of it again. Very old movie. It’s a true story. “D3ath of A Cheerleader” I’m not into true criminal stuff, I think it’s gross & disturbing (I don’t mind fictionalized movies inspired by true events, I just don’t like seeing documentaries with real footage & pictures and graphic detail and all). But, I always liked this movie before I even knew it’s real. And, it got me curious to look up the true events. This is the real woman here. That’s her as a young girl and her as an adult.
This woman, Bernadette Protti, when she was around 15 years old, st@bbed another young girl to d3ath. The victim was a pretty and popular stuck up cheerleader who was known for being a bully & a b!tch. If she’s portrayed correctly, she was a low-key bully, like not one of the ones who relentlessly terrorize but just always had something unkind/mocking to say to girls she felt were inferior to her. She was shallow and all into herself and boys and her popular friends. I read things online also, by people who claimed to know her back then, and old reports.
This girl here was girl crushing hard. It was purely platonic. She wanted her as a friend and was also kind of jealous and felt she wasn’t as good. When she told the popular girl how much she liked her and how pretty she is, the girl interpreted it as her being a lesbian and coming onto her. She was weirded out by it. If it’s portrayed accurately and the reports are accurate. Obviously, I can’t really know. But, this is how it’s said to have happened. The girl was afraid she would spread around school that she’s gay. So, she st@bbed the ish out of her one night. The girl died.
The k!ller here got off with a slap on the wrist. Seven years out of ten max in juvenile detention. Out at 22 years old, so, practically still a kid with an entire life still ahead of her. She grew up and went on to be a successful business/career woman or something. I read it before but don’t remember all the details.
She was very very sorry for what she did. She confessed on her own, after a while, because she felt so guilty. She said she wanted to die because of it but did not want her own family to suffer, losing her. She said if she could bring the d.ead girl back, she would. If she’s portrayed accurately, I believe she’s telling the truth. She wasn’t a sociopath. In fact, she had “too much” emotion, cared what everyone thought of her, wanted everyone to love her. She genuinely liked the girl she k!lled. She wanted to be BFF’s and thought that would make her popular too.
Also, if you look at her eyes in both pictures here (and all other pictures of her), she doesn’t look like a sociopath at all. So many murder3rs have an empty or “psych0” look in their eyes, like cold or devoid of emotion. They don’t even look human. This girl looks completely normal.
I don’t know. Some part of me understands to an extent, and I also don’t want to be judgmental. She was a child. She was known for being a “good girl” and a “nice girl.” She was a great student and friend to all who knew her. But, something snapped in her, and she went off on the girl. It wasn’t literal “snapping,” it was building up all along until she finally approached the girl.
But, another part of me is hung up on the fact that she took someone’s life away. Another child’s. That girl never got to grow up. Even if she was a b!tch, she did not deserve to die. And, she was only fifteen years old, who knows the person she could have become. She may not have been like that as an adult.
She may have been a b!tch & a bully, but she wasn’t a cold blo0ded murd3rer. And, think of her mom & dad. I don’t know if this part in the movie is accurate, but they got home one night as their daughter was there all bl0ody and being taken away in an ambulance with police all around. They were shocked & confused and had no clue what was going on and watched her die. That’s just not ok no matter what the girl was like.
I kind of think the k!ller should have gotten life in prison. Who was she to take someone’s entire life away and then get to live a normal successful life herself? It wasn’t even like the girl was terrorizing her if the movie and reports are accurate. She just did not want to be her friend. This girl kept throwing herself at her and getting rejected.
She was a very pretty girl, herself, and she had a great family and friends. Everyone liked her. But, she had low self esteem. She wasn’t considered popular and did not make the cheerleading team. She just kind of went unnoticed by everyone in general. She wasn’t of the same social status as the cheerleader, and felt inferior.
Teenagers don’t think like adults do. And, I don’t believe she would have or did go on to k!ll again, so I don’t think she was/is a threat to the general public. She just had it in for that one girl. She acted impulsively. But, in a way, that’s kind of more disturbing than if it was coldly calculated. It’s like she had no control. What’s to stop that again? Somehow, though, I don’t think she would k!ll again.
She did know better. Even a child knows not to k!ll. But, their decision making skills aren’t developed yet and their ability to reason. And it was kind of like self defense in an indirect way. It was not planned, it happened on the spur of the moment. She was hoping to become good friends with the girl that night when it came off the wrong way. (At least that’s what she claimed, the murd3red girl’s family believes it was all planned. There’s no way to really know.) If that girl was going to spread around school that this girl was gay, this girl would have been tormented by everyone at school. Even today, kids and adults are bullied for being gay. And, back then, it was way worse.
When I was her age, I did not fully grasp the finality of d3ath. I knew for a fact when anyone dies, they don’t come back, but I still did not truly grasp it until I was older. I remember when my pets would die and when a boy at my elementary school died in a tragic accident playing with friends and another boy who was sh0t to d3ath, and even at 14 years old when my uncle died, unexpectedly, I knew they weren’t coming back. But, somewhere inside I kind of felt like they could but just never would or something. I knew they couldn’t. But, it just couldn’t fully register.
When I was ten years old, I found a homi.cide victim. A young girl. She was st@bbed to d.eath by her boyfriend, I found out later. She was twenty years old and a victim of domestic vi0lence. That day, he finally k!lled her. I vividly remember all the blo0d. There was so much of it. Her shirt was ripped off and completely soaked in it. And, I remember her thick curly blonde hair hanging out as her body was covered with a white sheet. I remember back then not being able to fully grasp the gravity or seriousness of it because of my age. Even at 15 years old, it was like that. I was nowhere as fr3aked out then as I would be now finding someone like that. I’m not saying this is true for all children. But, it was for me.
Some part of her child brain and especially in the panicked state it was in, may not have fully truly grasped the seriousness of what she was doing.
I’m not infuriated like in some cases when someone gets let off easy. And, if I met her in person and we became good friends and then I found this out about her, I wouldn’t not be her friend anymore. But, another part of me thinks there wasn’t enough justice for the girl who died and her family & friends.
Imagine your daughter being murd3red and the k!ller gets to live happily ever after, no problem. It just doesn’t seem right. The fact that she was only a little girl herself, though, and not a psycho.path, makes it easier to accept.
Murderer & victim. The movie is free on YouTube &, I think, Amazon Prime.
“The road is long With many a winding turn That leads us to who knows where Who knows where But, I’m strong Strong enough to carry him He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother So, on we go His welfare is my concern No burden is he to bear We’ll get there For I know He would not encumber me He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother💙
I did not want to trick anyone for a few seconds but couldn’t think of a more fitting title to this post. Lol
OMGOMGOMG!!!
I received some HAPPY news!! It made my heart skip a beat, literally lol. It’s like something inside me shifted in a deep way, and I’m not the same me I was before. And, I just have to share!
I’m not having a baby, but…
It’s a……BOY!!! 💙
And I’m glowing! 🤣😂
I just found out I have a kidney brother!!!
I’m overwhelmed.
It’s the most heartwarming thing, to find out about the person I share a set of kidneys with.
This must be the same feeling expectant mamas feel when the ultrasound tech/doctor says “It’s a boy” or “It’s a girl.” (Yeah, I know they can’t actually know til the gender identity develops a few years later, but it’s still a happy moment) A surreal, awe-inspired feeling. And, it doesn’t even matter the personality or anything or if it’s mutual, just unconditional love.
Last year, I volunteered to give my kidney to the next person on the waitlist in the U.S. who I matched with.
January 2024 💚💙🫘
It was given to a fifty-something-year-old man in Minnesota.
I just found out!
I knew he’s in Minnesota (I’m in Pennsylvania) and that his transplant was a success (our kidney began working instantly after it was connected to his body), but did not know the age or gender.
I had a feeling all along that my kidney would go to a man. It was like a gut feeling.
I did not care about the gender or age of the person who would receive my kidney; everyone wants to live & be healthy, no matter our age/gender. But, I was slightly curious. At first, I was a little bit curious. Then that curiosity began to fade to where I was almost indifferent. Then after almost a year, the curiosity came back and more intensely. I thought I would never know.
I feel like an identical twin missing my other half as if we were separated at birth, a feeling that just crept up on me after around a year. Lol (I guess we’re not identical though as we don’t have the same exact anatomy 😆)
Now, I learned through my transplant team that he’s a 50-something-year-old man. We’re anonymous strangers, so that’s all I know.
It made me so happy to receive even just that little bit of information. Like an indescribable feeling. Happiness & warmth. Awe. It adds to my experience and makes the person less an abstract concept and more human in my mind. Just to have a general idea in my head of the person who traveled this journey with me and laid on an operating table the same morning I did, a few states away, so our destinies became one.
It made the whole experience really sink in.
To receive this news makes me even happier than I realized it would. 💙💙💙 It’s one of the most amazing happiest experiences of this whole life of mine. I did not know just what I was missing til I found out. There’s no way to even put it into words.
It’s like having a long-lost brother out there somewhere. He’s a complete stranger to me, yet he’s my own flesh & bl0od. He literally has a piece of me inside of him.
Now, I want to meet him 😆😭😍
I have two kidney brothers now because my kidney voucher recipient is also a man. Lol When we donate our kidney to “the next person on the waitlist,” we get to choose any specific person in the country to also receive a new kidney through our donation (we can choose five people, and the first one to receive the kidney, the others get canceled out. I made sure to only choose one so as not to get someone’s hopes up, then someone else gets it first, or so he wouldn’t have anxiety all along that maybe someone else would get it first and cancel out his place).
I looked for another stranger in need since I did not know anyone who needed a kidney transplant. I heard about a man who lives close to where I do who was in urgent need. After I donated my kidney to an anonymous stranger, he got his new kidney through my donation. I did get to meet him in person, and we’re friends on Facebook! 💚
Two new (kidney) brothers. How lucky am I?! 😁 Never had a brother before! 🫘
“Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are.” ❄️
In January 2024 when I was in Penn hospital after my kidney donor surgery I had a very special visitor. A stranger. She was like an angel.
I was laying in my hospital bed so sick and couldn’t even sit up. I had a catheter and IV’s in. My body was exhausted and super sick feeling.
A woman walked into my hospital room and introduced herself as a retired nurse named Donna. She was grandmotherly and had the most loving presence. She was going around to the hospital rooms to cheer up the patients and give us gifts. Coloring books and colored pencils and magazines and crossword puzzles, and journals and stress balls. And just various things to distract & uplift us.
I lovingly think of her as Nurse Donna.
The moment she stepped into my room and said hello my exhaustion & severe headache, that even IV pain meds/anti nausea meds wouldn’t touch, disappeared. I instantly sat up because of the surprise of how my body suddenly felt completely healed. She asked me if I minded her company. I said no. I was so thankful for it. I told her how her just being there seemed to heal me and that her presence & energy was just so warm & healing. She said she felt the same about me. I was surprised. It sounded so sincere. I wasn’t even telling her to flatter her or be kind or get a compliment in return. I was truly surprised and baffled.
No one else, even people I liked and the most uplifting people, made my body feel completely normal. I couldn’t even sit up when anyone else came into the room. I was so sick I had to stay an extra day in the hospital and have an extra IV because I couldn’t get up or drink anything.
Nurse Donna gave me various gifts. Then she held up something else. This bookmark in the picture here. She told me her young granddaughter, Turner, made it and told her to give it to someone special at the hospital, whatever patient she thought should have it most. The holidays were over so Nurse Donna wasn’t sure anyone would want it. She was hoping someone would because her granddaughter was so happy to have made it for “someone special.” She asked me if I would like to have it. She said she had a feeling I would.
I LOVE the holiday season & Winter. All year I wait for it to return. I told her that and that I would love to have her granddaughter’s bookmark. She was so moved and said she found the right person and was thrilled to tell her granddaughter later how much I love it. She told me some things about her family. It was so uplifting. I hope her granddaughter never outgrows making her beautiful gifts.
After she walked out of the room I experienced a sad feeling and sense of loss. I loved her presence and energy and felt like our conversation ended too soon. I felt there was more to know about each other. But she did not work there, she was only a visitor. So I knew I would likely never see her again. I just had this overwhelming feeling that I was “meant to” share more with her.
Not long later she returned to my hospital room. She apologized for the “intrusion.” She had the same feeling I did and felt the need to come back and express it to me before I even told her I had the same feeling. She said she felt like there was more to know about me. She told me she doesn’t usually ask too much about the patients, that she just gives them gifts, says a few kind words, and leaves. But me, she said she felt like I was “special.” I was so pleasantly surprised at the coincidence. She said something drew her back to my hospital room.
She told me she knew I was a transplant patient. That’s all the hospital staff was allowed to tell her. She asked if I would mind telling her my story but that she would understand if not. I was delighted. She is the very first person I had the honor of telling my experience to after my surgery.
I told her I just donated my kidney earlier that morning to the next person on the wait list here in the U.S. Just thinking about that gives me chills. It was the most amazing thing to get to say that out loud for the first time after almost twenty years of it being my dream. It was (still is) surreal.
Instantly her eyes filled with tears, and she just stared at me as if awestruck. She said it was the most amazing thing she ever heard and that she never met someone who has ever done something like that and that she couldn’t wait to tell the ladies in her group and her grandchildren. I remember her saying “You have no idea who has your kidney, and I bet you don’t even care, do you?” I said no.
She said she was so honored to be standing in my hospital room. Her grandson could have needed an organ transplant but thankfully it was prevented. She said she knew he would be so moved that she met a living organ donor.
She told me she hopes I live a long happy healthy life and have everything I ever dreamed of. That was so kind of her.
I just pulled this out to look at for the holiday season. I will hold onto it forever. It holds so much meaning and was made with love by a little girl who knew someone out there somewhere needed it. She signed her name on the back. How honored am I that of all the people in the city/hospital I’m the one to have received it. I wish so much I could find Nurse Donna and tell her I still have it & love it so she can tell her granddaughter.
Maybe one day I will. 🎄
After that encounter I never came across Nurse Donna again. But she’s one person I’ll vividly remember for as long as I live. I have a feeling we may cross paths again someday. I know she’ll remember me because it’s hard to forget an altruistic kidney donor 😆 The chances of meeting one are negligible, on a podcast episode I heard that we’re “statistically no one.” We’re less common than people who can wiggle both ears lol And I’ll know & recognize that loving energy & warm smile anywhere.
I love Nurse Donna the same as if we were friends. It doesn’t matter that I only knew her for less than a half hour and never saw her again, it feels like I know her whenever I think of her. Some people are that remarkable.
It’s amazing how one person can impact someone for life in just a few moments of knowing each other. And not because of anything they do or say but because of the pure love they radiate. 💚
Anyone who wants is welcome to share your own experience with a brief encounter with a kind stranger who touched your life for the better. I love stories like that.
(If anyone knows {retired} Nurse Donna who volunteers with Headstrong cancer foundation and gives sweet gifts to the patients at HUP, or her granddaughter, Turner, please direct her to this post. Thank you in advance lol)
Not sure but this may need a content warning ⚠️: non sexual touching by a stranger without consent
A random stranger man came up today and hugged me without my consent. It was on a crowded city street in daylight. He looked to be early 30 something years old. A bit younger than me. I had earphones in and was looking at my phone when a man walked towards me asking me something. I wasn’t interested in whatever it was, I was on my way to work (turns out he was asking me what food I like). I sensed he was not a threat. But he wouldn’t let me walk by because he wanted my attention. Then he grabbed me by the left shoulder and swung around in back of me and pulled me close to him. My back was against him with his arms around my upper body, holding me close. It was completely non sexual/non threatening. He wasn’t trying to feel me up at all. It was just a heartfelt hug. It was more playful & silly than anything. He had a big silly grin on his face when I saw his face. I can tell he just wasn’t taught proper boundaries.
It’s hard to convey the nuances in writing or speaking. So it may sound scarier than it was. Part of me was super annoyed that he was touching me without my consent, but my body loved the sensation of being hugged & held, especially the way he hugged me so closely and tightly. It truly felt like love. It felt safe. It was the kind of hug that is usually reserved for close people, not strangers on the street. It’s not the way I hug strangers when I have a choice. I prefer that level of hugging to be for close people. Again, it was not romantic/sexual in any way. He wasn’t asking me out or trying to get my phone number or anything and no touching me other than his arms around me. But it was still wrong. I tried to pull away because it was not consensual and was just weird, and he pulled me back and held me even closer. It wasn’t in a dominant way like to show me he was in charge, and there was nothing intimidating about it. (I have experience with men like this and can tell the difference) It was more like he wanted to hug and wasn’t ready to let go.
He’s lucky I’m not a woman who would instantly pull out mase or a g u n or punch him. Especially with what has been going on these days.(Men holding up signs saying “Your body, my choice” & “Women are property” and blasting that sentiment all over social media ever since the misogynistic predator was elected as President again)
After trying to pull away and him pulling me back, my body reacted instinctively, leaning against him and letting him hold me close as if we were best friends. I put my arms around his that were around my body as he held me for a few seconds, his head leaning against mine. My mind felt guilty for enabling him to grab & hug stranger women on the streets, but physically it was satisfying & fulfilling. And I let that part override the guilt telling me I should put him in his place. It was my guilty pleasure. If he was trying to do anything other than hug me I would have done more to stop it. Or if his hugging was sexual in some way. But it wasn’t. It probably was because I’m a woman. He probably doesn’t run up and hug other men like that, but still it wasn’t pervy or anything like that. In no way does this make it ok. I’m just saying I wouldn’t have tolerated it if it was sexual.
Now layers of my touch starvation have been peeled away. Even a while later my body feels light and like it got something it needed. But this is not the way that should happen.
I really need friends lol
My touch starvation isn’t just because of lack of physical touch, it’s the lack of emotional closeness with someone. I haven’t had close in person friends in a while. If I had a close emotional connection with someone even if we never ever physically touch, my touch starvation would be less. Even a day of socializing with strangers reduces my physical touch starvation a little bit. There have even been occasions I had staff meetings at work and my whole body felt lighter after just because of being around people. I’m seriously so super extroverted, but everyone says I can’t be or can’t accurately use that label because of how shy & quiet I am lol
I don’t have a trauma history or sensory issues with touching people, so I don’t mind being touched in & of itself or being approached by men in a non threatening way. But it’s not ok to touch someone without consent. It’s not ok anyway, but imagine if a woman with trauma history is grabbed & held by a random man on the street. She would probably have a breakdown.
These boys need to be taught better growing up.
I’m literally concerned for his safety because some other woman is going to take no 💩 and either pull out mase or worse. And it will be 💯 his own fault even though he’s harmless or at least not a true threat. I can be intuitive & receptive so can usually tell if I have to be concerned about a man, but not every woman is and may mistake him for a threat or she may just see a strange man approaching & touching her and take action, or she may have a trauma history and fr3ak out and react. And all of this would be his fault, not hers in any way. And the fault of whoever brought him up lacking boundaries.
I love hugs and will hug anyone who requests it. I have participated in “National Free Hug Day” years ago and also had a “Free Hugs” t-shirt before, that I would wear out & about. Strangers on the streets would come over and request a hug (they always asked first). I lost the shirt and always want to get another one and never get around to it.
Anyway I feel guilty for physically liking it knowing it’s wrong and feel like a scuzzy gender traitor sort of for letting a strange man touch me and not speaking up for all of us even though it wasn’t sexual in any way. (I promise I’m not though lol I have definitely approached men before when I saw them harassing other women and have spoken up for myself before. I have invited women to walk with me when they were being harassed on the streets) It was good for my mental health also. Humans in general need connection & physical touch with other humans (even if just platonic like this), but it seems twisted of me liking it with how it happened. I in no way condone it or appreciate it at all. But on a physiological & some emotional level beyond my choice/control it benefits me. It’s a strange contradiction, I know. It feels perverse.
I feel like a total sleeze today lol Can’t say I’m a credit to my gender.
If he wanted a hug he should have just asked. I would have gladly said yes.
Anyway, sending a consensual hug to anyone out there who needs or wants it lol 😘
My dad inspired my interest in politics. He listened to talk shows/voted in every Election for as long as I can remember. He took me inside the booth w/ him every Election Day. I LOVED it. I just knew it was so fun, that he let me vote for him, & there was a collective feeling in the air. I would go in & pull the levers he told me to. (They were levers back then lol) He’s a Republican (ick, just realized I been voting Republican for years 🤣). A D Trump supporter. Once when we went into the booth I reached for the Democrat one & said “Can I pull this one, Daddy?” I knew he wouldn’t like it & was trolling him. He yelled “Ahh, NO!!!! Not the Democrats!!! NO!!!” It was hilarious. 😆 When I was 14 years old I began to think for myself. I decided I am a Democrat. I somehow convinced him to vote for Al Gore. He was angry with the Republicans then for some reason. So he let his guard down, I saw my chance & took it. He said he knew he was making a big mistake & would regret it. I pulled that thing as fast as I could before he could change his mind. He closed his eyes & turned his back & was saying “just get it over with.” 😆 At 18 years old I registered myself as a Democrat. My dad was yelling “You baby k!ller, I can’t believe it, you’re joining the baby k!llers?!!!” 😂🤣 Every year on Election Day we would show up to the polls together voting for each other’s rival, sometimes him in Republican gear, me in Democrat. Sometimes we would remind each other that today is Election Day & that we had to go vote. I found that funny since we were on opposing sides. Sometimes we would walk in & he would say “Ugh! She’s a Democrat.” 😆 I would laugh. He would say something like “Kim, your boy won last night.” Or “Kim, your girl lost.” My dad is terminally ill now, & tomorrow he will not be voting for me. He will be getting in one last vote for Donald Trump. I won’t be joining him. He will be pushed by my aunt in his wheelchair that he is now confined to. She’ll push the buttons for him or help him push them. I already voted for Kamala Harris. 💙 I never realized back then that one Election Day would be our last together. I admit those are some happy memories that I cherish ❤️
Xoxo Kim
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