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“A balm for the soul”
  review on Goodreads
GOOD PEOPLE Book
upworthy

connections

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

A collage of Dalton Ross .


Dalton Ross wanted to make sure his family didn't miss him too badly while he was studying abroad in London.

To help them cope, the 22-year-old Tennessee native did what any selfless college student would do...


He sent his mom a life-size cutout of himself.

art, imaginative, artistic, family dynamics

The life-size cutout of Dalton Ross.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

"I thought maybe they'd put it in the living room corner until I got back to remember I exist," he explained about the cutout, which came with a short note: "You're welcome.”

But like any clever mom, Susan Talley couldn't just stash this amazing piece of work away when it arrived about two months ago.

tomfoolery, family tradition, clowning

Guess who’s coming to dinner.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

No, no — she had better plans in mind.

Talley decided the cardboard version of her son could be a great companion "while the real one is in Europe." So she brought him along with her to events, like basketball games ...

Can you spot cardboard Dalton in the stands?

farce, levity, witticism

Defense! Defense!

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

... trips to the doctor's office ...

doctor visit, hilarious gags, connection

Hello doc.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

... and sub sandwich runs.

sub sandwich, family pranks, photography

One meatball sub please.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

Fake Dalton celebrated Valentine's Day with a fellow inanimate object.

Valentine\u2019s Day, inanimate object, dating

The strange and uncomfortable.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

He enjoyed playing with a furry, four-legged friend in the sunshine.

dogs, parks, family pets

Some complicated fetching.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

And he appreciated a good bedtime story, just like the rest of us.

Dr. Seuess, bedtime story, community

Reading Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!"

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

The photos of fake Dalton are spreading like wildfire.

sons, Facebook, Imgur

Out and about for lunch.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

Without showing her son the photos first, Talley went ahead and uploaded them to Facebook. And after Dalton shared them on Imgur — explaining his mom "seems to be entertaining herself" while he's gone — the story sent the Internet into a buzzy frenzy.

"The attention is crazy," Ross told Upworthy, noting the story has gained so much traction that a restaurant featured in one of the photos, O'Charley's, sent the family a gift card.

"I hope my mom's holding up all right," he said. "It's awesome though.”

Fake Dalton has been hitting the batting cages...

batting cages, unique travel, fun activities

Batter up.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

... taking in some nightlife...

entertaining, Dalton Ross, family love

Out on the town.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

... and celebrated Easter with his family.

Easter, connections, life abroad

Easter with the Ross family.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

Although the viral reaction to the photos has been a bit nuts, Ross isn't all that surprised his mom was up for a good laugh.

mom, life-size, humor

Out and about.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

"Oh yeah, my mom is very funny," he explained to Upworthy. And it's a good thing, too: Laughter can be a great tool in improving the quality of family dynamics and boosting a loved one's emotional health. (A student studying abroad should especially keep that in mind, considering being away from loved ones and familiarity can be tough.)

"We're a big family of jokesters."

Bravo, mom, for setting the bar very high ahead of April Fools' Day.

uplifting, parents, laughter

Let’s clean it up.

All photos courtesy of Dalton Ross, used with permission.

This article originally appeared on 03.30.16

More

Andy Grammer's 'mom hug' with a stranger is a beautiful reminder that we're all connected.

Many people chimed in to share similar stories of cosmic connections with strangers and stories of spreading kindness and love in honor of loved ones who have passed.

Singer Andy Grammer had a special connection with his mom who died of cancer nine years ago.

Grammer's beloved mother, Kathy, passed away from breast cancer in 2009, when Grammer was 25. He has written several songs dedicated to her, and he shares the wisdom he gleaned from his mama in his hit single "Give Love." Her death was an unexpected blow, and Grammer has talked openly about the difficult journey of coming to terms with her passing.

Years after her death, Grammer and his mom still share a special connection — one that made itself known while he was eating breakfast at a restaurant in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire.


Grammer picked up the tab for some women who reminded him of his mom. But he didn't expect their response.

Was sitting at breakfast in Hampton Beach and across the restaurant were five SUPER CUTE elderly ladies. I don’t know...

Posted by Andy Grammer on Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Grammer wrote in a Facebook post that he saw "five SUPER CUTE elderly ladies" across the restaurant. "I don't know why but it made me miss my mom hard and I felt a strong urge to pick up their check. I don’t know them and didn’t want to bother them but I just did it."

"Then I was just gonna leave," he wrote, "cause a lot of times it’s better to just do nice deeds without asking for acknowledgment but something felt like I should tell them I missed my mom, like they might like to hear that. So I walked over and said 'you are five of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever seen, I lost my mom awhile back and something about seeing you made me miss her this morning so I’m getting your check.'"

As it turns out, one of the women had lost her son. And now we're all crying together.

"The lady on the end popped up with arms wide open and said 'COME HERE, I lost my son and really needed this.' And then she gave a mom hug I needed and I gave her a son hug she needed," Grammer wrote. Then he summarized the whole mysterious/cosmic/providential experience with a simple truth: "We are all so connected."

One of the moms, Mary Conant, commented on his Facebook post and said that the women "send our sincere appreciation to your for treating us to breakfast today at the Sea Ketch at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. Sending you lots of hugs. Your mom sent you to us today."

The post received hundreds more comments, many from people sharing similar stories of cosmic connections with strangers and stories of spreading kindness and love in honor of loved ones who have passed.

What a beautiful reminder that we're all connected in ways we aren't even aware of.

Today is 9 years since my sweet mother left this world. I brought my little Louisiana K Grammer to her grave site this...

Posted by Andy Grammer on Wednesday, January 3, 2018
True
Extra Chewy Mints

What’s the key to happiness? It’s something we’ve all wondered about.

Maybe you’re one of the 43% of Americans dealing with chronic loneliness and wishing you knew more about how to make friends, keep friends, and escape loneliness.

But knowing where to start finding that happiness isn’t always easy.


Ads often encourage people to chase happiness through material things, like tech gadgets, cars, and clothes — but can you really buy happiness?

Well, according to Amit Kumar, a social psychologist who studies happiness and spending habits, you can actually give your happiness a serious boost by spending your money on meaningful moments.

[rebelmouse-image 19478450 dam="1" original_size="3872x2592" caption="Photo by Anna Dziubinska/Unsplash." expand=1]Photo by Anna Dziubinska/Unsplash.

Kumar is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and has published several studies on the satisfaction people get from their purchases. He and his colleagues have compared experiential purchases like a plane ticket for a vacation to material purchases like electronics.

Kumar says they found that “people derive more satisfaction from experiential purchases like vacations than they do from material purchases like clothing, jewelry, furniture, electronic gadgets, and so on.”

So if you’re considering attending a show, visiting a new country, or taking a road trip, you might want to start packing.

According to Kumar, it’s not necessarily the purchase itself that makes you happy — it’s the memorable experiences that purchase leads to. In other words, your trip or outing will likely lead you to experience new and exciting things that you might remember forever.

And sometimes, what makes that experience memorable is the people you meet along the way and the unexpected connections you make with them.

It’s not like you need a big, dramatic moment to make this kind of connection. The moments of connection can be as simple as opening the door for a stranger, or offering a mint after enjoying a coffee with that long-lost classmate you ran into randomly while exploring a new city. Maybe, on your adventures, you’ll meet a waitress who goes above and beyond for her customers; or maybe you’ll strike up a conversation with someone in line to see that concert you’ve been waiting for all year. Maybe you’ll grab lunch with those hikers who warned you about a bear up ahead on the nature trail.

[rebelmouse-image 19478451 dam="1" original_size="5760x3840" caption="Photo by Mike Erskine/Unsplash." expand=1]Photo by Mike Erskine/Unsplash.

Whatever these small moments are, you’ll be talking about them later, telling coworkers, dates, and new friends about that time a road trip led you to someone you might have never met otherwise.

And when you talk about an experience afterward, it lives on — and so do the feelings of happiness you’ve derived from it.

Jesse Walker, who co-authored a study with Kumar, says, “One-time experiences tend to grow sweeter in memory as time passes. Even a vacation that goes terribly wrong in every way often becomes a fond memory.”

So maybe, someday, you’ll even laugh about the road trip with your partner that got you horribly lost and spending the night in that scary hotel you swear was haunted.

[rebelmouse-image 19478452 dam="1" original_size="3648x5472" caption="Photo by Ivana Cajina/Unsplash." expand=1]Photo by Ivana Cajina/Unsplash.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to ditch material purchases altogether to find happiness — the key is to find some balance. Rather than getting pulled completely into the world of material things, Kumar says, you can put some of your spending money toward experiences, too.

You may even be able to get both at once: For instance, a cell phone with a great camera can give you mementos like photos and videos of good times shared with friends and loved ones.

[rebelmouse-image 19478453 dam="1" original_size="2983x1676" caption="Photo by Katie Treadway/Unsplash." expand=1]Photo by Katie Treadway/Unsplash.

So look out for opportunities for those small moments of connection — they can carry a wealth of happiness.

Which means that finding the key to happiness is much simpler than many people think. It’s not about having the right material possessions to make you feel satisfied. It’s more about life’s little moments — sharing an experience and making a connection that leaves you with meaningful, happy memories.

While that may not be your only source of happiness, it’s a great start to help you combat loneliness and find the joy you seek.

Family

Meet Jordan, whose love of black cats helps her speak.

Black cats are definitely lucky for this girl.

Superstition, according to most people, says black cats are unlucky. But Jordan is not most people.

Jordan is 22 years old and on the autism spectrum. It's rare for her to express herself through speech. Rare, that is, until she's face-to-face with a furry feline, especially if it's a black one.


Jordan meeting a black kitten. All images via PAWsitive/YouTube unless noted.

Jordan gets to be around fluffy black cats regularly thanks to Mychal's Learning Place, a nonprofit organization that helps give adults and children with learning disabilities the tools to build self-esteem and independence.

Through Mychal's Learning Place, Jordan has the opportunity to work with Adopt and Shop, a rescue organization and not-for-profit retail store that's never lacking in cats who need love and attention.

"[Jordan] gets to give love and affection the way she wants to. On her timeline," explained Ed Lynch, founder of Mychal's Learning Place.

Play time.

In many ways, Jordan's relationship with the cats is incredibly reciprocal. Jordan provides the cats with mental and physical stimulation, and they do the same for her, which in turn helps her be more vocal and outgoing in the world.

Her bond with black cats in particular is special.

"We first discovered her love for cats when she began to draw pictures of black kittens," said Alicia Galindo, director of the Culver City branch of Mychal's Learning Place, explaining that Jordan called all the kittens "Gracie" after a black cat she had growing up who passed away.

After starting work at Adopt and Shop, Alicia said Jordan was noticeably happier. Caring for the shelter cats seemed to give her a greater sense of purpose.

Ed said that when Jordan does speak without a cat around, she usually just repeats the last thing someone else said to her. When she's with her favorite black cats, however, he said Jordan speaks much more freely, spouting off a lot of her own phrases.

Jordan eagerly awaits the new black kittens.

"When Jordan is around cats, she just begins to talk to them as if they could understand her," said Alicia. "She always greets them and ask if they are OK."

A 2015 study conducted at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University found that animals can ease social anxiety in people on the autism spectrum.

A little girl nose-to-nose with her kitty. Photo by Patrick/Flickr..

The researchers studied the behavior of children with autism both with and without a guinea pig nearby and noticed the children were significantly less withdrawn in the presence of the animal.

Another study conducted at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine observed 70 families with children with autism, some who had pets and some who didn't. They found that the children of families with pets were much more socially outgoing and interested in bonding with their families than those without.

Because some children with autism don't like loud noises or sudden, large movements (aka dogs), the leader of the study, Gretchen Carlisle, recommends cats as the perfect companion.

Obviously Jordan agrees.

Ed and the rest of the staff at Mychal's Learning Place are thrilled that Jordan has found somewhere she can be productive and feel fulfilled and loved all at the same time.

People with autism are often labeled as "different" by society, but they're just like anyone else trying to figure out what works for them and what doesn't. When you discover something that clicks for you, it can be like a light going on.

Black cats also come with a label — bad luck. It makes people think twice about adopting them.

Looking at what black cats have done for Jordan (and she for them in return), you realize just how meaningless that making assumptions about individuals just because of a certain label truly is.

As Ed said, "Let’s take those labels, throw them out the door, and let them go."

Check out a video about Jordan and her cats here: