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Pets

Man jumps out of his car with a puppy in the most adorable red-light moment ever recorded

"I JUST WITNESSED THE PUREST THING EVER."

Man jumps out of his car with a puppy in the most adorable red-light moment ever recorded
via Celina Romera / Flickr

When you see someone jump out of their car at a red light to talk with another motorist, usually it's bad news. Most of the time, it's the moment when road rage gets personal.

But 26-year-old Celina Romera caught video of probably one of the most adorable red-light interactions between motorists on December 15 in Tampa, Florida.

In the video, an unidentified man pops out of his car at a stoplight with a darling puppy in his hand. In the other car, a big German Shepherd pops his head out and the two dogs exchange kisses.

"I JUST WITNESSED THE PUREST THING EVER," Romera wrote on Facebook.

After the light changes, the man with the puppy gently walks back to the car. In the video Romera can be heard saying, "It's okay, man. Take your time."

One could imagine that the dogs were barking at each other before the video began.Then, the owner of the puppy thought it was okay for the two dogs to meet. The American Kennel Club says that barking between dogs is a pretty crude way to communicate.

However, it is part of a host of messages that dogs send to one another.

The job of a dog's owner is to determine if the dogs are ready to share a sniff or of one is fearful.

"The combination of barking, body language, and approach-avoidance behavior gives away the fearful dog's motivation, even to us relatively uneducated body-language readers," the Club says on its blog.

The original video Romera posted has been shared over 120,000 times.

The heartwarming video is a reminder that nothing can bring two strangers and millions of Facebook viewers together quite like dogs.


This article originally appeared on 12.16.19


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Mental Health

Motivation expert explains how two simple words can free you from taking things personally

You don't need to take responsibility for everything and everyone.

via TEDx SF/Flickr and TEDx SF/Flickr

Mel Robbins making a TED Talk.

Towards the end of The Beatles’ illustrious but brief career, Paul McCartney wrote “Let it Be,” a song about finding peace by letting events take their natural course. It was a sentiment that seemed to mirror the feeling of resignation the band had with its imminent demise.

The bittersweet song has had an appeal that has lasted generations, and that may be because it reflects an essential psychological concept: the locus of control. “It’s about understanding where our influence ends and accepting that some things are beyond our control,” Jennifer Chappell Marsh, a marriage and family therapist, told The Huffington Post. “We can’t control others, so instead, we should focus on our own actions and responses.”

This idea of giving up control (or the illusion of it) when it does us no good was perfectly distilled into two words that everyone can understand: "Let Them." This is officially known as the “Let Them” theory. Podcast host, author, motivational speaker and former lawyer Mel Robbins explained this theory perfectly in a vial Instagram video posted in May 2023.

“I just heard about this thing called the ‘Let Them Theory,’ I freaking love this,” Robbins starts the video.

“If your friends are not inviting you out to brunch this weekend, let them. If the person that you're really attracted to is not interested in a commitment, let them. If your kids do not want to get up and go to that thing with you this week, let them.” Robbins says in the clip. “So much time and energy is wasted on forcing other people to match our expectations.”

“If they’re not showing up how you want them to show up, do not try to force them to change; let them be themselves because they are revealing who they are to you. Just let them – and then you get to choose what you do next,” she continued.

The phrase is a great one to keep in your mental health tool kit because it’s a reminder that, for the most part, we can’t control other people. And if we can, is it worth wasting the emotional energy? Especially when we can allow people to behave as they wish and then we can react to them however we choose?

@melrobbins

Stop wasting energy on trying to get other people to meet YOUR expectations. Instead, try using the “Let Them Theory.” 💥 Listen now on the #melrobbinspodcast!! “The “Let Them Theory”: A Life Changing Mindset Hack That 15 Million People Can’t Stop Talking About” 🔗 in bio #melrobbins #letthemtheory #letgo #lettinggo #podcast #podcastepisode

How you respond to their behavior can significantly impact how they treat you in the future.

It’s also incredibly freeing to relieve yourself of the responsibility of changing people or feeling responsible for their actions. As the old Polish proverb goes, “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”

“Yes! It’s much like a concept propelled by the book ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k.’ Save your energy and set your boundaries accordingly. It’s realizing that we only have “control” over ourselves and it’s so freeing,” one viewer wrote.

“Let It Be” brought Paul McCartney solace as he dealt with losing his band in a very public breakup. The same state of mind can help all of us, whether it’s dealing with parents living in the past, friends who change and you don’t feel like you know them anymore, or someone who cuts you off in traffic because they’re in a huge rush to go who knows where.

The moment someone gets on your nerves and you feel a jolt of anxiety run up your back, take a big breath and say, “Let them.”

let them theory, let it be, paul mccartney, the beatles, exhalethe beatles wave GIFGiphy

This article originally appeared last year.

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Friendship

Kindergartener invites bus driver she adores as her special guest to graduation party

"She sat with him the whole time."

dailymailcute/YouTube

Young girl invites her favorite bus driver to attend her kindergarten graduation.

Kindergarten graduation is a big deal for students and parents alike. For six-year-old Mallie Courtney, there was one special person she wanted to invite to her graduation party: her beloved bus driver Don Allen.

Courtney, from Bradford, Tennessee, made hearts melt in a sweet video shared by her aunt Holly Bratcher (@hollypaigebrachter) on social media that showed her spending time with Allen on her big day. In the video, the two are seated next to each other, playing games and eating snacks while celebrating her big accomplishment.

"Ok so this was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. 😭😭😭 they acted like best friends! 🩷'," she captioned the video.

@hollypaigebratcher

Ok so this was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. 😭😭😭 they acted like best friends! 🩷 #niece #auntie #kindergarten #sosweet #thecutest

The two were glued side by side the entire party. "Y'all my niece's bus driver came to her party and she sat with him the THE WHOLE TIME," she added. "They played games and talked the whole time. This is the cutest thing ever."

In an interview with PEOPLE, Courtney's aunt Holly shared her surprise when she arrived at the party and didn't recognize Allen. "I asked her mom, 'Who is that man?'" she told the publication. "And she told me it was her bus driver, and how much Mallie adores him. When she told me that Mallie had invited him to her party, I thought it was the sweetest thing!"

It was clear the two had a special bond. Bratcher also added that during the school year, they hugged each other every morning and every afternoon.

School bus, bus driver, kindergarten, school bus driver, busSchool Bus Love GIF by MochimochilandGiphy

It meant the world to Courtney that he showed up. "I was so excited that Mr. Don actually came!" she told PEOPLE. "I ran and gave him a hug and we ate together and played games and I gave him my cupcake because I didn't want it."

She went on to call him her "best friend." "He said he was proud of me and that he will see me Monday morning. I liked hanging out with him the most, we are best friends," she added.

With nearly six million views on TikTok, the video resonated with many people who also shared about their close relationships with bus drivers in the comments. "I invited my janitor from high school to my graduation party. And he was so exited to come he brought his wife. It’s been 10 years and he still mentions it," one wrote. Another shared, "My 10th grade geography teacher (a 75 year old man) took a personal day to come to my mom’s funeral. I will never forget him."

The heartwarming video also made an impact on Bratcher, who shared it hoping to inspire others. "My hope from this video is that in the broken world we live in, there are still good people," Bratcher shared with PEOPLE. "Genuine people still are here and want to help impact children’s lives and even older people’s lives. We live in a time of many sad things happening in the world, and seeing things like this gives comfort that with all the bad in the world, there is still good."

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Family

Woman who traveled abroad for 2 weeks realizes why she can't marry an American man

"I'm actually embarrassed to talk about this."

via Canva/Photos

A woman holding back her laughter.

One of the biggest topics in parenting these days is the mental and physical drain that comes with being the default parent in a family. The default parent is the one who is first in line when it comes to taking responsibility for parenting duties, whether that means making doctor’s appointments, ensuring the homework is done, or making sure the child has enough socks to make it through the week.

Being the default parent can lead to fatigue and burnout, and the parent can experience incredible anxiety when their attention turns away from the household or family. The situation is even worse when the default parent’s partner only does the bare minimum. Unfortunately, in American society, fathers are often the parents who do just enough to get by and are praised for it.

The notion that men don’t have to pull their equal weight in American family life is so ingrained that when Emma Hughes, a travel nanny with over one year of experience in childcare and family support, visited Sweden for two weeks, she experienced extreme culture shock.


"I've been in Sweden now and I think I've been ruined for American men," the 24-year-old said in a viral Instagram video. "Specifically raising a child with an American man in America, because these Scandinavian dads? Chef's kiss …"

"I'm actually embarrassed to talk about this because all of the observations that I've made have really revealed to me how deeply ingrained [expletive] dads have become like in my brain, and it's just like the default,” she continued.

The notion that fathers only have to do the bare minimum was so ingrained in Hughes’ psyche that she couldn’t understand seeing so many involved fathers in Sweden.

sweden, swedish dad, swedish fathers, soccer, swedish childA dad playing soccer with his child.via Canva/Photos

"When I see more dads pushing their strollers in the park on a Saturday morning than moms, what does my brain think … That's weird, there is something abnormal about that,” Hughes said. “When I see dads at the grocery store with their kids. When I see dads out at restaurants or in public. It is so deeply telling of a lot of subconscious stuff that I have going on in my brain after working with so many families."

She said that even the best dads she's worked with in America would be considered the "Scandinavian bare minimum." She applauded one Swedish father who purchased a new size of diapers for his baby without being told to do so by his partner.

swedes, swedish couple, scandanavia, swedish flag, happy swedesA couple holding up the Swedish flag.via Canva/Photos

"Like I watched a Swedish dad go to the grocery store and come home with like four bags of groceries and in that trip he had bought size two diapers for a baby that had previously been wearing size one and was ready to move into size two but that conversation had not happened between the mom and the dad,” she said.

Given Swedish dads' dedication towards their parenting responsibilities, it’s fair to assume that their partners are much happier and stress-free than those in the States. But what about their kids? Researchers at the United Nations who studied “child well-being in rich countries” found that Swedish fathers also ranked high by their children. The survey asked children in 28 countries if it was easy to talk to their dads, and while 67% of children in the study said their parents were easy to talk to, Swedish fathers scored higher at 72.4%. Meanwhile, the U.S ranked 25, out of 28, at just 59.7%.

sweden, swedish dad, swedish fathers, swedish child, dad reading note, A Swedish dad reading a note. via Canva/Photos

Ultimately, Hughes makes an important point that Scandinavian men have set a high bar for being fathers and that American men need to step up. The positive sign is that in America, the discussion around default parenting has been getting louder and louder, and hopefully, that will prompt more American men and women to set higher expectations so that one day, American men can catch Sweden’s.

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Movies

Experts explain why we love cringingly bad movies and how to embrace it

"Bad movies bring people together, it turns out!"

en.m.wikipedia.org

Writer and director Tommy Wiseau.

Since filmmaking began, there have always been some version of "bad movie clubs." You know, the ones where people get together and purposely choose awful (subjective, of course) films to bond over and share a good, harmless laugh. Someone might bring their favorite chips and beer and buzz with ideas as to which delightfully awful movie they could watch next. Sometimes, there are arguments as to what makes something "good" or "bad." But it's usually all in fun and a great way for people to connect.

During the pandemic, those "so bad they're good" movie clubs seemed to multiply, albeit shifting to virtual hangouts. Much like a book club, people logged on, watched films, and had their own Mystery Science Theater experience.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

This trend continues on, both online and in person, and there is seemingly no shortage of cringe-cinema as an excuse to curl up, point, and laugh. There are actually meet-up groups around the world who hold "bad movie nights" as a way for people to get out and meet other like-minded folk. This one, in Australia, is all about the connection: "This club encourages discussion and banter during the screening. Expect some noise!"

Podcasts like Red Letter Media and How Did This Get Made? have dedicated their existence to it, with people clamoring to hear the next take on the worst movies.

In his book Why It's Okay to Love Bad Movies, author Matthew Strohl differentiates between "Bad Movie Ridicule" and "Bad Movie Love," claiming the latter is less about schadenfreude (pleasure derived from someone else's misfortune) and more about an appreciation of the art form from a comedic standpoint, which in turn creates intimacy among communities. In a review of the book, writer Sam Woolfe points out Strohl's brilliant insight as to why this club still needs to feel exclusive:

"If everyone liked bad movies, that would ruin it. There’s no thrill of lowbrow transgression where there’s no contempt from above.”

Other experts have weighed in on why and how this happens. In The Cut's 2017 article," The Psychological Appeal of Really Bad Movies," Adam Kovac notes Harvard assistant psychology professor Mina Cikara's summation:

“Part of the idea is that the presence of other people can intensify the emotional experience. To the extent schadenfreude is still pleasure, despite the fact it’s malicious, one possibility is it amplifies that pleasure by co-experiencing it with other people. Another part of it is it’s affirming of your viewpoint. If I hate a thing and you hate a thing, then I know you see the world the same that I do. That can be a very satisfying experience.”

In the subreddit group r/badMovies, one Redditor shares how his "Bad Movie Club" grew during the pandemic. Starting with a Chinese bootleg of Star Wars: Episode III, followed by The Room, it became a regular way for people to connect during what most considered a very lonely time. He shares, "I also quickly realized I could invite friends and family from outside the state where I live, and so disparate people in different states have gotten to know each other and even become friends over the last few years. Bad movies bring people together, it turns out!"

In fact, one commenter even met their significant other that way:

"I was part of a bad movie (mostly MST3K but others as well) streaming room for a number of years, and it's how I met my partner. Seven years and still going!"

Not only is it fun to watch the movies, it seems equally enjoyable for people to share their picks. Movies like Mac and Me, CATS (2019), Robot Monster, Troll 2—the lists are endless and ever-evolving. It's a gift that keeps on giving—maybe not so much to the filmmakers—but certainly to the fans.

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Celebrity

Staff floored as Keanu Reeves randomly drops into their small town U.K. pub

"He marched into the kitchen, shook their hands, and praised them for the food they had prepared."

Gordon Correll (left), Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors (right)

Keanu Reeves popped into The Robin Hood pub for lunch.

Who doesn't love Keanu Reeves? He has a well-deserved reputation as one of Hollywood’s nicest celebrities. Recently, he cheered up an 80-year-old fan who had a crush on him by calling her on the phone. He’s also bought an ice cream cone for a fan to give an autograph on the receipt and crashed a wedding to take photos with the bride and groom. He’s also an incredible humanitarian who gave up a big chunk of his money from The Matrix to a cancer charity.

The John Wick star was his usual gracious self over a random weekend in 2023 when he and a friend walked into The Robin Hood pub in Tring, Hertfordshire, about 30 miles outside of London.

Keanu Reeves, beer, pubKeanu Reeves popped in for a drink.Giphy

The employees at the pub in the picturesque, small market town with a population of 12,000 were shocked to see such a high-profile celebrity walk through its doors—especially one who is known for being such a humble, likable guy.

Pub staff posted a photo of chef Scott Valentine, 18, and The Matrix star on The Robin Hood’s Facebook page.

“So today we had a surprise visitor for lunch,” they shared. “What a lovely man he was too. Laura asked if he would be ok with taking photos with the kitchen lads. He marched into the kitchen, shook their hands, and praised them for the food they had prepared. Suffice to say he made their days!!!”


According to the staff at the restaurant, Reeves ordered traditional English fare. "He came to the bar and ordered a beer (Seafarers Ale) and just walked over to the corner. He ordered fish and chips and Nat's shepherd's pie,” Laura Rolfe told The Mirror.

Valentine told the BBC he was scared to cook for such a big star. But Reeves was appreciative of the staff and liked the food.

"It was a bit worrying because I had to cook for him, but we took it out to him and he said thank you and was really nice," said Valentine. “He came into the kitchen, shook our hands and said the food was lovely."

keanu reeves, kindnessKeanu Reeves has a reputation as a kind celebrityGiphy by Sky

The folks at The Robin Hood aren’t sure why Reeves was hanging out in Tring, but The Mirror speculated he was working on a Disney Plus docuseries about Formula 1.

In 2022, it was announced that Reeves was producing a documentary about Jenson Button’s unlikely victory for Brawn GP in 2009. “Our story is about Honda withdrawing from F1 and Ross Brawn who had joined Honda a year and a half earlier,” Reeves said according to TalkSport.

“How did they race a world championship? It’s certainly a people story. It’s about passion,” Reeves added. "Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story" came out as a 4-episode TV mini-series in 2023 and won the International Emmy Award for Best Sports Documentary that year.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

More recently, Reeves has been busy filming John Wick sequels with "John Wick: Chapter 5" in the works in 2025. The 60-year-old is also reuniting with his "Speed" co-star Sandra Bullock for a romance thriller produced by Amazon MGM, but details are under wraps.

Whatever the reason that Reeves showed up to a small town pub, it’s great that everyone who met him came away with warm feelings about the man. Reeves clearly knows that by being a humble, nice guy to people, he can make someone else’s day and give them a great story to tell forever. Kudos to Reeves for using his fame to touch other people’s lives. With all the stories we’ve reported about him being cool to fans, it seems like he never lets anybody down.

This article originally appeared two years ago and has been updated.

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