What's your most amazing experience of generosity by a stranger?

Decades ago, an unknown woman came into the office where my then-fiancée worked, to book her flight home across the ocean. On learning we were about to be married and emigrate to her own home city, she immediately said "come to us"!

A few months later, she and her husband (who hadn't been consulted in the first place) were at the airport to meet us on arrival. We lived with them until we were 'on our feet' in two or three weeks. I'd never known such kindness from a stranger and will never forget it.

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Starcrossed · 41-45, F

When I was a teenager, my best friend and I ended up stranded 10 miles from home at 4-5 an due to a series of poor choices. A cabbie drove us several miles closer to home for free just to make sure we were at least in a safer neighborhood.

ffony · M

@Starcrossed You know, now that I think of it there have been plenty of kind, generous strangers in my life. Your post reminded me of the French Canadian cabbie who took us - Anglophones - and our 3 young kids under his wing at 2am in 1960s Montreal . Our cross-country train from Vancouver had been delayed for hours by an accident ahead on the line and our hotel reservation was mysteriously non-existent (baksheesh from someone else?). This cab driver switched off his meter and took us around to I think three motels, getting me to check the price at each one and get his say-so on whether it was reasonable.

And there was the time in our youth when our small car broke down about 100 miles from home (in Scotland.) The snoozing heavy-truck driver we approached at the local rail yard agreed to give us a ride as far as he could. Part way he had to call his base to see whether he had to pick up a new load (truck was empty.) When he was told there was no load he apologized to us because he could have had our car in the back! He actually delivered us right to my parents' suburban front door in the dead of night. He still had a couple of hundred miles to go. There was even more to the story, like the garage mechanic who took us to his home because we were soaking wet, and his wife cooked us a meal.

Thanks for jogging my memory about all this. Does this kind of thing still happen?

Shadyglow · F

@Starcrossed I was so lost driving to a special place that a stranger put me up overnight and told me not to repay him. He has a place in heaven now though...