The newest tradition 'round here is going to be doling out unsolicited recognition for nice people. Why? Mostly 'cause no one ever does that. So every Sunday...or maybe Monday...we're gonna chuck out Zoey's Nice Person of the Week to whoever is deserving. Maybe someone did something nice for us, maybe we heard about something nice they did for someone else, maybe we got a nice email or someone waited for us and held the door...I dunno, but somebody should acknowledge it formally. That's us!

The very first ever Nice Person of the Week was a tough one...First, we'd never done such a thing before. Second, there were quite a few people who went out of their way to be nice to us, and lastly, since it's the inaugural Nice Person there's some pressure on the pick. This first one is precedent setting!

Let's see...

There was the sales girl at Lululemon who just up and gave June two or three extra bags with a smile...just 'cause. Good bags too, the kind that cost you a few bucks, you know, the heavy duty, waterproof, reusable shopping bag thingys. Awfully nice of her...

Grandma Cathy made a special trip nearly an hour out of her way just to check our mail while we were gone...people don't do that sort of thing anymore. I suppose Mom's do, don't they? Either way it was phenomenally nice.

Chantelle Finley was super sweet in a back and forth Facebook conversation with June late last night. June said she sounded super eager to connect over Christmas and meet Zoey, similarly we could meet Noah too. Terribly nice.

The evening front desk clerk at our hotel who gave me her password to access the wireless internet rather than demand that I pay for it. "Is it for business?" Nope, to update my daughters blog. "Isn't that cute? Here, use my password but don't tell anyone." Fairly wonderful of her.

Betsy sent one simple email just to say "hey," and reassure us that choosing Florida over NYC was a wise decision what with the weather Manhattan was getting tossed this weekend. She also planted the seed of a timely return to NYC to enjoy a carriage ride through a snowy Central Park. We fell asleep with that nice idea drifting through our weary heads. She also asked for our address so that she could send Zo a little Christmas gift! How impossibly sweet and thoughtful, which is really just nice times twenty-seven, isn't it?

There was the bus driver who told me his very own super secret tips to getting down to the Amway Arena for the basketball game. He was unnecessarily nice and it was mucho appreciated.

See...tough decision, isn't it?

I think that we're going to go with Betsy. It had been nearly fifteen years since I'd seen Betsy before this past September and now she's a regular over here at The Zoey Blog and we touch base fairly often. All that AND she's thoughtful enough to ask for our address to send Zo a little something. That kind of nice doesn't happen every day, and it makes me smile.

BTW..Betz has her own little site going over at Kicking the Moon. She's an awfully smart woman but does an impressive job of softening "awfully smart" with a grin inducing kind of gregarious and absolute heaping portions of wonderful. Betsy was my very good friend Aimee's best friend in college and Aimee knows what she's doing.

Congratulations Betsy...you were the nicest person in our universe this week! Now you send us your address so we can send you your prize.