Nice people are the best

I don’t always know what to write about in this space – do you want to hear about every movie I see (it’s a lot of movies)? The latest adventure in the city (making a delivery guy bring me dinner in the rain!)? I worry it all starts to get old after awhile.

I will always, however, blog about those moments in life where others are just genuinely nice – to me, or to anyone at all. I simply can’t leave these moments unrecognized. And I’m pretty sure what we could use more of in this world are reminders that people are actually nice. That more often than not, they are nice simply for the sake of being nice, without any ulterior motive.

First, it was a book pushed across the table at a coffee shop. Then just this week, I was surprised by one of the interns I work with. Out of the blue, she asked if I’d like a free ticket to see Annie.

Why yes, yes I would.

I’ve lived here four months and hadn’t seen a Broadway show yet. Which is not at all how I saw it going once I moved just blocks away from the Great White Way. But tickets are expensive, and as much as I’d love to see every new play with some film actor making their Broadway debut, it’s just not realistic.

So when said intern mentioned a friend of hers who works on the show had the extra comp ticket, I happily accepted. Sure, I was supposed to start my new yoga class that night. But free Broadway show tickets always win. I can always reschedule yoga.

I zipped over to Times Square right after work, picked up the ticket without a fuss and was shown swiftly to my seat – center orchestra. Nice! Since starring as an orphan and a servant in my 6th grade production, I’ve loved Annie in all its over-the-top optimism. And this show delivered. I had to laugh out loud several times at the cheesiness of it all – as Rooster and Miss Hannigan croon about Easy Street; as FDR and his cabinet belt out about the sun and tomorrow and what have you. It really is absurd when you think about it.

But it’s what we – or at least I – love about Annie. It’s unabashedly positive. You can’t help but leave feeling better about things. Getting offered that ticket was an unexpected surprise; that the ticket was for a show that celebrates being nice and honest and positive – that’s just a pleasant coincidence.

I haven’t had the opportunity to offer books or tickets to others, but these reminders keep me thinking about ways to be kind in my every day life. I stop and offer to take pictures quite often – the young family at the fountain in Lincoln Center, the mother and her grown kids walking the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s not much, but I love offering to snap the picture, so they’ll have something other than a selfie at arm’s length or a portrait with one of them left out.

Who’s been kind to you recently? How do you pay the kind forward?