A small act of kindness

A small act of kindness can have the greatest value…

Earlier this week, I went out to meet a friend for lunch.

We were supposed to go to an art gallery.  Have a look around. Have lunch, a chat, a catch-up…

But owing to the fact that in the life of Lara Lakin, hope mostly triumphs over experience…  I was late again!!

We drove round the corner to her local brasserie, caught up with all our summer holiday news and had a good old laugh. Realising that I was about to be late for the school run, we asked for the bill, at which point she insisted on paying.

Why?  There was absolutely no reason for her to buy me lunch other than just a simple gesture of kindness and friendship.  I was really touched.  It made me smile and put me in a really good mood for the rest of the day.

And of course, it got me thinking how small acts of kindness can have such an effect on us.

It reminded me of a number of incidents over the years, that have made me feel similarly cheered up to know that there are kind and generous spirited people out there.

I won’t bore you with all of them, but this one still makes me smile to myself.

Years ago, when I was about eight months pregnant, I was travelling to work on the tube.  As usual, there were no seats.  The people sitting were all avoiding eye contact, or hiding behind their newspapers.  As the train pulled out of the station, a voice rang out from the end of the carriage:

“Excuse me madam, would you like someone to give you their seat?”

I looked round to see a lovely tall dark handsome man (really, he was very attractive!) standing at the other end of the tube.  As soon as he had said it, there was a huge scuffling of newspapers and about 10 offers of a seat!  As I sat down I thanked him and he gave me a wink!  How I wished I wasn’t eight months pregnant and looking like a beached whale!!! (Oh dear God, calm down Lara!).

It put me in such a good mood that day.  I told everyone in the office about it and it made them smile too!

And as I sit here writing this… I have to wonder whether it’s made you smile too! 

Hope so…!

Lara Lakin…. sharing the love… and signing out!