Kind strangers are the best. You know when you pass someone on the street or in the hall or wherever and you make eye contact with someone who responses with a smile? That's so sweet, and I love people who do that.

Also, strangers who randomly come up to you out of nowhere to compliment you on something. Maybe it's about your clothes or hair or makeup, or maybe they recognized and remembered you from somewhere and they just wanted to go up to you and quickly tell you how good you look or how great you did. Going up to random people to tell them that you like something is hard, at least it is for me, so actually working up the courage to do so is really amazing to me.

I always remember strangers doing and saying nice things. I remember exactly who smiled at me in the halls at school. I remember people who called out to me across a room to compliment one of my headbands or who took the time to seek me out after a performance. That kind of stuff just sticks with you, you know?

Random children who come up to you to say something nice are also super fantastic. Kids are brutally honest most of the time, so when they compliment, there's a 97% chance that they sincerely mean it. (That other 3% is when their parents make them say something.) Even if it comes out wrong, it still means a lot to me when little kids get out of their comfort zone to say something sweet.

There was this man that I met while in a phone store a while back ago. The of us talked for hours while waiting on my parents. He was genuinely interested in my opinions on the stuff we talked about, like journalism, film, and even the concept of shipping. We never learned each other names, but I still just really appreciate his honest friendliness. Another time, I was in a restaurant, talking to my family about how excited I was about making it into a prestigious choir when two teenage girls approached our table. They introduced themselves, saying that they were members of the local LDS church on the other side of town and that they had overhear that I was a singer. They invited me to their church, telling me that their church was currently working on building up their choir and that they would save a seat for me with them. They were just amazingly sweet and outgoing; I still think about them sometimes. Another time when I was in Annie, a little four-year-old girl shyly came up to me. I was in the ensemble, with my biggest part being the police officer who takes Annie back to the orphanage in the beginning and then arrests Roaster, Lily, and Miss Hannigan at the end. The little girl told me that she had just watched the movie the other day and was hoping that an "actual police" would be in the show. Then, she gave me a big hug, told me "thank you for your service", and then just walked off. I was smiling so hard after that. She just made my week.

So yeah. Kind strangers are the best.