Random Subway Niceness

This morning on the way up the stairs from the subway, my son suddenly realized he had lost one of his gloves and panicked, because they are these very cool special green gloves that match his coat and are extra good for making snowballs because of the smooth patches on the palms.

We were running late and I sighed and opened my mouth to tell him that we didn't have time to go back and look, when a guy ran past us up the stairs and tossed Connor his glove. "Here buddy, you dropped this," he said and ran on before we could thank him.

Also, a few days ago I got to witness one of my favorite New York moments. A tourist was on the N train and asked someone for help with directions. Everyone's ears perked up. A friendly argument ensued about the best route for her to take, with more and more people joining in to contribute their two cents of subway expertise. The map was perused. Several people offered to show her how to transfer lines. She exited the train escorted by someone saying "follow me!" and with many expressions of thanks, you're welcome, no problem, good luck, etc.

This happens a lot. It's one of those cool things that takes a subway car, full of individuals with Ipods studiously pretending not to notice that they are crammed together, and suddenly transforms it into a friendly community.

Last week on the way into town we were on an especially crowded subway car. A woman carrying a baby bundled up in a blanket came on and immediately someone jumped up so that she could sit down with her burden. For the next ten minutes we were then treated to the rapturous smiles of this adorable baby, who could not keep her eyes off of Fernando's face. I got to stand there and enjoy them grinning at each other until it was time to leave the train. By that time everyone around us was smiling and laughing because the baby was just scrumptious.