A man lights up in a no-smoking zone at a water park. Worker tells him to stop. He ignores it.
Then the Beluga whale behind him enforces the rule.
One perfectly aimed splash cigarette out, lesson learned.
I kept texting my ex-coworker after she quit. Just memes. Funny stuff from the office. “You’re missing this chaos.” She’d reply with laughing emojis. We did this for months. Then she stopped responding. I figured she moved on. Made new friends. Forgot about our inside jokes.
Kept sending memes anyway. Once a week. No responses. Just kept going. Felt stupid but couldn’t stop. She’d been my work best friend. Only person who got my humor.
Six months of silence. Then one day. “I’m so sorry I haven’t replied. I’ve been in treatment. Depression got really bad after I left that job. Your memes were the only thing that made me smile some days. I’d read them in group therapy. Saved every single one. They kept me going”
I sat at my desk crying. Had no idea she was struggling. No idea those stupid memes mattered. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She replied. “I couldn’t tell anyone. But knowing you were still thinking of me. Still trying to make me laugh. It helped more than you know”
We meet for coffee now. Once a month. She’s doing better. Showed me her phone. Folder labeled “Hope.” Every meme I sent. Hundreds of them. “On bad days I scroll through these. Remind myself someone cared enough to keep trying.”
I still send memes. But now she responds. And now I know they matter more than I thought.
—Jake M., Texas
I was in an airport restroom when a man knocked and said, “Dad with a 4 year old coming in!” He sounded mortified. He kept his back to everyone, stared at the ceiling like it personally offended him, and speed-walked his daughter into a stall.
A woman whispered, “Unbelievable.”
What’s unbelievable is expecting a preschooler to brave the men’s restroom alone in a crowded airport. He did the respectful thing: he warned us, kept it brief, and focused on his child.
Sometimes the safest choice isn’t the most traditional one.
If you have no kids. Do it right. Find a good man. Get MARRIED. Enjoy your marriage first. Build your foundation. THEN have a baby. Don’t rush into motherhood unprepared. You and your child deserve better.
This girl sitting next to me gave herself an insulin shot in class yesterday & the girl next to her said “can you like not do that right now” she replied with “um no Debra I'd like to live”. Lmao