Happening upon wonderful discoveries

I had an experience this morning that inspired the idea for this thread. I thought it would be a good idea to share unexpected discoveries that are special. It can be anything from a great show to an unusual flower; just so you think it's unexpectedly wonderful.

Here's my story:

This morning I went to the farmer's market, a routine trip. It is fairly large and often has a musician playing for tips. Today, at the farmers market, the musician stopped me cold. He was wonderful, his music spoke deeply. This was a young man of about maybe 14 or 15 playing a violin, playing classical and celtic tunes, with a sign he is raising money for college. I would say from the level of his talent, he is very likely a child prodigy. Here's another indication of how good he is; the farmer's market is in a inner city poor area; many of the customers there are poor recent immigrants. Yet, no one could pass by and not add money to his violin case, even though I am sure he was playing music they are unfamiliar with. He'd only been there for 2 hours (as that is when the farmers market opened) and it looked like he had a couple of hundred dollars with the average donation being $1 or less. I not only tipped him and told him how I felt about his music, but gave him the name of a musician who was once himself a child prodigy and now nurtures the careers of others while pursuing his own.

That young man made my day.

That young man made my day.

And I bet you made his as well.

I'm reviving this thread because of a small moment that made my day and I still feel good about it.

A couple of days ago I was braving the Christmas crowd at Trader Joes as I really needed some groceries. I was having an off day, feeling out of it, unfocused, and driving myself nuts.

At the back of the store is a tasting station, and that day, they had some really good ham that they were promoting for the holidays. But, as my h doesn't eat ham, it would have been for 1 person had I bought some. And of course, it came in 1/4, 1/2, and whole ham sizes; much too large for a group of one. As I was looking woefully at the 1/4 hams, this chinese lady was doing the same. She was in her mid 50's and an empty nester. She started a conversation with me, wishing out loud how she wished there were more people to share one of those great hams with. I replied "I know what you mean. My husband doesn't even eat ham, so it would be just for me." She then commented that she was looking for the smallest 1/4 ham she could find and I realised I could freeze many meals from such a piece. We struck up a momentary friendship right there in the crowded market, talking a bit about our lives and ham uses (and soup from the bone). We both made our selections and went on our separate ways.

I ran into her in another aisle and we talked some more for a bit. When I got to checkout, she was right in front of me. We both had noticed that the ham had couponds inside the package. She asked the clerk if she could use it to take the price off the ham; but it was for future purchases. She left, and while my stuff was being rung up, she returned with the coupond for me to use; she had opened the package (it required sissors or a knife as it was in a net) just to give it to me. We ran into one another in the parking lot once more and said our goodbyes and merry christmases.

On a hectic day full of grumpy people, here was this outgoing friendly woman who's company I enjoyed, if only for a brief time. A nice experience, especially for an hsp like me.

Oh yeah, the ham was great, and I got 12 meals out of it. I froze most of it of course. I was planning to make ministrone soup next week anyway, so the ham bone was frozen for that use as well.

That's a nice Christmas story, melodi.

I really like stories like this...and especially since I have had a craving for ham and every time I have looked, I have thought, it's just me...you just never know who you might encounter...enjoy your meals...

I do too. I'm hoping the rest of you will share your moments here too.

I always love those kind of impromptu friendships at grocery stores or wherever they occur. They are always special and always remind me of how connected we really are.

Yeah....that's the way I love days to go! That is definately how things can go when we are "clicking" with one another...sharing vibes. And...it ain't just for holidays..of course.
A kind story....
b.d.

I love those feel-good stories.

And, I miss Trader Joe's so much!!

I am reviving this thread so that others can post of their wonderful discoveries too.

My most recent one has been playing out right here on this board; linking up.

I have one.
I reconnected with one of the 3 best friends I had in my childhood on facebook recently. I was a shy, withdrawn child so I didn't have all that many friends. It turns out that we reconnected at the perfect time for both of us. I can't believe how much we still have in common, even after all this time.

This is a really special thing to me, and I think to her too. I've been wanting to share it with you all for a little while... glad you revived this thread MC.

Reconnecting with an old friend and finding you never really disconnected at all; this is such a wonderful thing indeed, to be treasured.

I thought I'd revive this thread so that others too can share what they find as they go about living their lives, wonderful experiences and discoveries.

I met an ohio-american, he's come here to study. He had a nice beard, and he was interested in nordic history. We talked about politics and we talked about stuff in general, american culture, etc, and it was awesome. Then he, me and two friends watched a handball game.

I deal in used books online, so when I can I get big lots of books that I sort threw slowly.

While working on a box of them this past Sunday I came across a book that had an envelope slightly taped in side of it. I carefully took out the envelope so as not to damage it or the book and showed it to my husband. He got a knife and slowly opened it so we could see what it was. Inside was a letter, written in a child's handwriting, a 'Dear Santa' letter. We read it, then I noticed it was written on the back of a company's stationary. We kinda went 'oh how cute' and went back to what we were doing, but as the night went on I kept looking at the letter, finally I asked hubby if he thought the family would like it back, as odd as it may seem. He had been thinking the same so I set down and google searched the name of the company the letter was from. The little girl's last name was the same as the woman who owned the company so I had a good guess it was her mother or a family member. The company luckily came up in google, same address as the stationary, same phone number (but the area code had changed, we figured it would have considering the letter was written before the company even had a website.) I e-mailed the 'contact us' link on the site Sunday and waited, not sure if I'd hear anything back.

Today I got an e-mail from the girl who had written the letter herself. She seemed very excited to hear I had her letter and wanted it back if I wouldn't mind sending to to her.

I dropped it in the mail along with my out going mail today, so she should get back her letter in a few days.

Imagine getting a letter back you'd written as a child. It's pretty amazing and you certainly made her day.