RAVE to the gentleman who waited on me the other morning at the West Seattle post office. I used my own box and he said I could fit my box in the USPS box and save $10! Then he waited patiently while I called my son to get the address correct. He deserves a raise!

RAVE to the Edmonds “Santa’s helper” team for mailing handwritten notes from “the North Pole” to kids who leave a letter to Santa in the curbside collection box.

RAVE to the West Seattle post office. An out-of-town relative sent me a birthday card in December but to the wrong house address. The attentive people at the post office clearly noticed it, ignored the wrong address and delivered it in time for my birthday! They have a lot of extra work in December which makes it even more impressive.

RAVE to Seattle Collection & Disposal workers. I have neighbors who often leave piles of boxes, paper and who knows what else in front of my house, often days before the city pickup. The other morning I watched a city employee carefully pick up the neighbor’s large pile of uncollapsed, soggy boxes, many of which had fallen into the street. Yay to these careful workers.

RAVE to the honest, helpful employee at a mobile carrier’s Northgate store when I thought I needed to buy a new phone because my current one had trouble getting charged. He diagnosed the problem as dust in the charging port and cleaned it out with special tools. Problem solved, no cost, my phone works perfectly now. Kudos to a company that cares for its customers and honest employees who don’t take advantage to push sales of expensive new phones.

RAVE to the best neighbors ever! After a long shift on the front lines of a very busy urgent care clinic, I came home tired and hungry. To my delight, they had dropped off delicious homemade clam spaghetti. It both warmed my heart and filled my tummy! Such good friends!

RAVE to the Route 13 bus driver who watched me fruitlessly banging on the window of a departing D Line bus trying to catch it, gestured for me to get on his bus instead and told me to hang on as he followed the D Line bus so I could catch it before it left Queen Anne. I felt like Keanu Reeves in “Speed” as the bus driver made heroic (but always legal) efforts to catch up with the D Line bus ahead of it, honking at cars improperly in the bus lane and depositing me at the next D Line stop, allowing me to get on the D Line bus and make it home in time for dinner. He did not need to do that for me, and his generous and kind act makes me smile even now. I love our bus drivers.

RAVE to the person who mailed my dropped package. I recently purchased some lightweight headbands for my bedbound older brother on the other side of the country. While passing through Pike Place Market on the way to the post office, I dropped the package. By the time I realized I no longer had the package and retraced my steps, the package was nowhere to be found. I am thrilled to report that some kind person found and MAILED the package! I just got a lovely thank you for the small gift. Yeah, downtown is crowded and has a lot going on wrong right now but there are bright spots like this to be celebrated!

RAVE to my dining experiences in New Zealand and Australia. I recently returned from a multiweek vacation to both places. During our travels, we ate many of our meals in local restaurants. One custom I really enjoyed was the price listed on the menu included tax and tip. If you ordered fish and chips for $20, your total bill was $20. I didn’t have to factor in taxes and tips to estimate my final purchase. The restaurants had factored in adequate employee costs into their menu prices. What a novel idea. When I read all the controversies related to consumer tip fatigue and the desire to provide livable wages for restaurant workers, it seems we could learn something from our friends down under.

RAVE to the decorations at Overlake hospital. I had to admit my husband there on Christmas Day. It was like being in a winter wonderland. The hospital was so beautifully decorated and had a nice feeling of warmth with all the lights and trees. For what was not a usual Christmas Day, Overlake made it special and provided a feeling of care. Thank you all!