Way back in May, @rambo and @missy asked us to tell them about a time when you were in need and someone was kind to you OR when you did something kind for some one else.
I've been both a receiver and a giver of kindness.
I wasn't really in need, but when I was in the USAF, before I got married, I was not stationed near family. At my first duty station, Homestead AFB (south of Miami, Florida), there was a guy in my shop whose parents lived in Davie (just east of Ft. Lauderdale). They invited all of the single people in the shop over for Thanksgiving and again for Christmas. I think they even gave us a small gift for Christmas. At Thanksgiving, they had a bowl of nuts, (walnuts, brazil nuts, etc.) on the coffee table. My roommate literally went nuts for the nuts. They got him a bag of mixed nuts and a nutcracker for Christmas.
At my next duty station, Spangdahlem AB, Germany, I met Jeff, who had arrived on station about the same time as me. He was married with two kids, but his family couldn't come over until he found a place to live on the economy. Once found a place and moved his family over, Jeff came over to the base, picked me up and took me back to his house on Christmas Eve to spend the night and have Christmas with him and his family. The next year, John and his wife had me stay over their apartment for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In both of those years, I think their were presents for everyone too.
Those were the times I was the receiver of kindness, though it's not surprising since military people are generally like that.
As for the times I was the giver of kindness, those are many.
When I was stationed at Homestead, a friend from when i lived in Alabama called me and needed some money. She didn't need much, maybe $100, but I didn't have a lot of money then either, but I scraped it together and sent it to her.
I've donated a lot of clothes to Goodwill and Big Brothers, Big Sisters. In fact, we have several bags sitting in our closet and in the garage that need to get taken to Goodwill.
When we moved from Virginia back to Las Vegas, we could only afford one POD for all of our household belongings, plus what we could fit in my truck and my wife's SUV. We couldn't fit all of it. We ended up giving a nice, heavy, glass dining table set, a solid pecan armoire, lots of extra dishes and kitchen items, a really nice 4 piece entertainment center, knickknacks and tchotchkes, patio furniture, a Bowflex and plenty of other things to Habitat for Humanity.
Before we moved from Las Vegas to Virginia, my sister-in-law and her husband needed some money. We loaned them $1000, but later told them they didn't have to pay us back. Within the past year or two, one of our friends needed money. We loaned her several hundred dollars. Later, we told her she didn't need to pay us back. A girl on our bowling team needed some cash last spring, not much, $50. We loaned it to her, and later told her she didn't have to pay us back.
Both my wife and I give a few dollars or spare change to the street corner people who seem to ubiquitous around town.
In 2012, we had some friends (who were also our tattoo artists at the time) who didn't have much money and had no place to go for Christmas. We invited them over, gave them ugly Christmas sweaters and some other gifts and made them Christmas dinner.
At the Nevada Children's Cancer Foundation and The Caring Place Gala back in November, we donated $250 so that one kid with cancer can go to camp this summer and feel like a normal kid for a week.
And just this Christmas, I sent some cash to someone here on SG that desperately needed some.
As you can tell, when we have the means, my wife and I are very generous people. We're by no means rich, but we both have good jobs that pay pretty well. Whenever we can, we like to share with those in need.
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Stay Tuned...
DeadGuitarist
Besides Suicide Girls, you can find me on various other social, photography and music sites, as well as career oriented sites:
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | REVERBNATION (ARTIST) | SOUNDCLOUD | FANDALISM | TUMBLR | FLICKR | 500PX | VIEWBUG | GURUSHOTS | WASTED YEARS (MY PERSONAL WEBSITE)| YOUTUBE | LINKEDIN | AMAZON WISHLIST
I'm not super active on all of them, but I add stuff to each of them occasionally that you won't necessarily find on my SG profile page.
