When I was in fourth grade my family was staying up north with my aunt. My family and I decided that we were going to visit the Judy Garland Museum. I was having a bad day, and being the 10-year old that I was I decided to make it everyone's problem. Looking back on the situation now I feel bad about how rude I was being to my family however in the moment it felt justified. After we were done with our tour of the museum we decided to get ice cream at the shop that was in the museum. When we got in there I saw that they didn't have the flavor I wanted and considering that I was already in a bad mood this made me sad. So I started crying. My parents were very done with me at this point but still let me get ice cream (thinking it now I am very thankful for how patient my parents were with me even though I was being annoying). 

The lady working at the shop noticed that I was crying and when taking my order she said,  “Hi sweetie, I hope you’re feeling okay. Now what can I get for you?” in what had to be the nicest voice I’ve ever heard anyone speak in. 

You know when there is someone that can immediately make anyone feel better just by being there? She was one of those people. 

I immediately stopped crying, I don't think I could have if I wanted to. So I said my order “Uhm yeah I’m okay. Can I get a medium strawberry cone?"

My mom interrupted with, “actually she will just take a small” and before I knew it the tears were back, flowing down my face. From an outside perspective, this may have made me seem spoiled or ungrateful. But it was one of those situations where you have just stopped crying and any small thing could send you back into a pit of sadness. 

So I stood there watching her scoop my ice cream when she says, “well it's not really an ice cream cone if there's not ice cream all the way in the cone” and then proceeded to give me an extra scoop shoved in the cone.  

I don't think I will ever truly understand why this moment stood out to me. I am sure there have been plenty of times I have encountered kind strangers at my favorite restaurant or in line at an amusement park. What really matters is that this moment inspired me to be a kind stranger to everyone new I meet. Whether that is complementing people’s outfits whenever possible or always letting people who are in a rush pass me in line. These are all examples of habits I have developed to try to brighten people’s days. They act as unspoken rules of sorts, small acts of kindness that are engraved in the basic ways that I interact with everyone I meet every day.