We are always told how the littlest of actions, good or bad, can affect somebody very deeply. Even so, bad things are, for some reason, kept in the “easily remembered” files of our brain, and the good things are more easily filtered and forgotten. Often you’ll hear or read about the long-lasting effects of a negative remark or some other non-event that, when triggered, can cause a person almost as much pain as it did initially. You’re in luck today: I do NOT have one of those negative stories. I have a story about one little kindness, one simple little action, that was performed by someone who, I can practically…

I spoke with one of my oldest friends today (C) for the first time in ages. It’s been so long since we’ve talked that I literally cannot remember the last time (maybe eight years*?), yet we “got on” famously as usual. This friend is special to me historically because he’s been there for a couple milestones in my life. He flew from Tennessee to Chicago for the surprise party that Jim, Julesie, and Kate threw for me when I turned thirty. He was one of the two people who accompanied me to the Knoxville airport–and quieted my nerves by reminiscing about “back in the day”–when I left Tennessee to join…