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It was a couple of days after Christmas when my husband and I went to Four Seasons Town Centre to return a gift. Mission completed, we started upstairs on the escalator for lunch.

As I stepped on the escalator, I fell hard, raising a big knot on my forehead and causing painful ribs.

As I was falling I screamed, and a couple ahead of us lifted me and carried me out into the mall.

The man yelled for a chair, a towel and ice. It all appeared as if by magic. As he held the ice pack to my forehead, the woman knelt beside me, comforting me, holding my hand. They told me she was a nurse.

Someone offered to relieve him, but he refused until EMS arrived. They both kissed me on the cheek, wished God’s blessings upon me and disappeared.

I did not get their names and probably will never see them again, but I will never forget their professional and compassionate care.

— Anna B. Campbell, Carthage

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We live in a rural area of Guilford County near Friedens Church. As we travel up Church Street in Gibsonville, we always look for an elderly man walking his small dog, possibly a Shih Tzu. We do not know his name, but we consider “ourselves in the place just right,” when we see them.

We always get a smile and a big wave as does everyone who is fortunate enough to be traveling while these two are walking.

He greets the people he is facing, and then turns to greet those who are coming from behind them. His mission is to spread joy to those of us hustling and bustling by as he and his beloved pet walk leisurely, taking time to “smell the roses.”

So, thank you, man with the dog, for the simple gifts of a smile and wave.

The little dog seems to be wearing a smile, too. We’re sure it’s because it feels so lucky to have such a master “in the valley of love and delight.”

— James and Peggy Greeson, Gibsonville