NICE STORIES
Every now and then we like to lock our inner cynics in a box and share some good news.
EGGNOG AND GINGERSNAPS
In December 2017, a troubled 17-year-old girl (unnamed in press reports) snuck out of her Winnipeg foster home and broke into the house where Leah Ross, a former lawyer, lived alone. The teenager ransacked the basement, taking anything she could find, and then left. Later that day, she realized that she’d left her phone and keys in the basement, so she had no choice but to go back and try to retrieve them. When the girl showed up at the back door—wearing Ross’s sweater, coat, and watch—Ross was standing there. She quickly took a photo of the girl and then asked, “Are you going to hurt me?” The girl immediately broke down and started crying, and the two shared a long hug. Then Ross invited her inside. They sat together at the kitchen table and had eggnog and gingersnaps. Not long after, the pastor from across the street showed up, followed by the police. Ross refused to press charges, and is still in contact with the teenager and her foster parents. According to the CBC, the two have formed a “special bond.”
WHEELS OF FORTUNE
In February 2018, in Queensland, Australia, a young woman named Tegan Langley was sitting in her car in a McDonald’s parking lot when a strange man walked up and asked her if she “knew the state of her tires.” Langley knew they were bald, but she didn’t have enough money to replace them. “This complete stranger,” who she later learned was named Tony, “explained he couldn’t live with himself if he walked away from the situation knowing they were about to blow at any time.” So Tony convinced Langley to follow him to a nearby tire shop. “$535, a lot of tears on my behalf, a few hugs, three brand new tires, and a wheel alignment later, he left.” All Tony asked for in return was that “one day when I’m in the position where I’m able to help someone, I pay it forward.” Langley’s first step: tell her story on Facebook. After the Mirror reported on it, her post has amassed over 50,000 Likes. That’s 50,000 more people (plus everyone who reads this book) who will know about Tony’s generosity.
PEN PALS
In 2009 Brian Greenley and Alison Hitchcock met at a yoga retreat in Berkshire, England, and became friends. A year later, Greenley divulged that he’d just been diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer. Hitchcock wanted to do something for her friend, so she said she’d write him a letter. “I asked if she was a great letter writer,” Greenley told Huffpost in 2019, “and she said no.” Hitchcock, who actually teaches creative writing at a university, gave herself the simple challenge of writing something to cheer him up. The first letter came a few weeks later. “It was very funny,” Greenley said, “a massive distraction.” Hitchcock sent dozens more over the next few years as Greenley underwent surgeries and chemotherapy. The two friends eventually realized that other cancer patients might appreciate receiving a real letter in an envelope, so they started a charity called From Me To You. Through their “Donate a Letter” campaign, people from all over the world can send an anonymous letter to a cancer patient in Great Britain. One of thousands of such recipients is Veronica Farley, 69, of East Sussex. While she was undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer and feeling isolated, she received a letter from a New Zealand woman named Christine who “wrote about the wallabies in her garden who were eating her eucalyptus trees.” Farley said the letter really helped her. “I was overwhelmed that a complete stranger had taken the time to write to me. It was such a kind thought.”
Snickers salad (chopped Snickers bars, green apples, Cool Whip) is an Iowa “party staple.”
In 2000 a seven-year-old Idaho boy named Tyrel Wolfe packed a shoebox full of Christmas gifts, which included toiletries, school supplies, a toy, and a photo of himself on his Idaho farm. As part of a church program called Operation Christmas Child, the shoebox was mailed to the Philippines, where it ended up with a nine-year-old girl named Joana Marchan. She really liked the presents—especially the photo, which had Tyrel’s name on it—and sent a thank-you note in return. It never got to him. Nearly a decade later, Joana, by that time in college, decided to see what that little boy was up to, so she looked him up on Facebook and sent him a friend request. Tyrel, 18, didn’t know who this strange young woman was, so he did the responsible thing and ignored the request. Two years later, Joana decided to try again. Hesitantly, he responded, “How do you know me?” She told him about the shoebox and the photo of the “cute cowboy with the wooded background.” The two hit it off immediately and began a correspondence. (They really bonded over their mutual love of Christian music.) One year later—and twelve years after sending the Christmas present—Tyrel traveled to the Philippines and met Joana in person. Two years later, they were married. At last report, the Wolfe family—Tyrel, Joana, and their son Harlann Jun—is living happily ever after in Idaho.
“It is impossible to persuade a man who does not disagree, but smiles.”
—Muriel Spark
Michael Bolton was Paula Abdul’s babysitter.