I am so touched .....

Yes & I think - in ways that we remember, that payday loan or money for a holiday doesn't hang in there, 25 years later.
That memory of something expensive you wanted & parents couldn't really afford but did - that does better,
Someone coming to your rescue when you're tired out by a new baby or can 't afford anyone to help with a housemove- one tier up again.
But lovely, complimentary things said about your parents or partner, or yourself after ages have passed - they cost nothing & they glow in the memory.

What lovely stories and memories. As a child our home was small but filled with love. I envied my friend who lived in a bigger/smarter house but it was not a happy home and she spent a lot of time at our house enjoying my Mum's food and hospitality. Her Parents were cold towards their children and she never remembered being hugged, it was almost as though they were a nuisance and spoiled the life they wanted for themselves. We never know what really goes on in other people's homes and how it can make them feel in Adult life. I am truly grateful for the life my Parents gave me full of love because that was the only thing they had to share having very little in the way of material things.

That's a lovely message, you must cherish it even though it makes you happy and sad in equal measure. Very special.

My DD's best friend loved the fun at our busy house. (I was her Headteacher too, and she enjoyed "helping" me at home preparing wall displays.) Sadly she died in her teens. I was asked by her parents to read at her funeral because they said that's what C would have wanted, but I couldn't do it. I loved her too much, and I knew my own young daughter was in bits too. It's my deepest deepest regret to this day, but I hope C died remembering all the happy times we had together.

Recently I was briefly contacted on Facebook by an ex boyfriend from my teenaged years. We didn’t date for long but he said how fondly he remembered my late father who was always welcoming to him and discussed matters of the day as an equal. It was lovely to hear that said about my Dad. He was from Ulster and was always welcoming to visitors regardless of their background. 🥰

what an impact you must have had on this little girl all those years ago, that she still remembers,and isn't nice to be remembered for being welcoming to people,

Yes ... it is the small things that make a child feel secure. We do not recognise it at the time and it is very touching to be reminded.
I, like others, truly miss those times.

I am glad your DD passed on the message.What a lovely thing to say and reminds me of what someone once said: we will be loved and valued by our family and friends not by what we have given them or even by what we have achieved but how we have made them feel.
My son’s friend who was a fussy eater said he liked coming to our house because he enjoyed the breakfasts I gave him. He still comments on it on the rare occasions I see him forty years later.
My son who had to write about me at school said I knitted him a football scarf and made him feel better in the night when he was ill and I took him drinks. Such small gestures but with a big impact. They made me feel good too.

Sorry meant to say how welcoming and warm you are not were.

What a wonderful testimony to how welcoming and warm you were.
Our children’s friends were frequently at our house, I used to complain was like Piccadilly station but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Do miss it.

That's so lovely.

That's so lovely Luckygirl

1summer - what a great thing you and your OH did. You should be proud. Sometimes we do not realise how what seems small to us can have such a really positive impact.

We used to have a friend of my DD's with us a great deal of the time and on holidays - her mother could not settle to one partner and the poor lass used to be obliged to get attached to new fathers as they changed - it was so hard for her. But I know she saw our place as a refuge and it is so lovely when I see her now, as I often do. She cancelled a foreign holiday to be with us at my OH's funeral. I was very touched by this.

Summer. That brought tears to my eyes. How proud you must be.

Oh how lovely 😻

That is lovely, and such a complement.

Sorry to piggy back on this but after my husband died two of my son’s best friends came to see me. They both only lived with Mums and had little or no contact with Dads.
They both said that my husband was a father figure to them, one said his love of sport and football was because of my husband who always supported my son and him at sporting events and he took both of them to our City football matches every week. We also took him on holiday a few times. His lovely Mum also sent us a message to say how grateful she was that my husband help shape her son to be the young man he now was.
The other young man said my husband had taught him how to be a father and said if he was half as good as my husband being a Dad he would be happy.
It still brings tears to my eyes thinking of this, my husband would have brushed it off but I felt incredibly proud.

I feel quite overcome by it. I think we all look back and remember the things we could have done better, so it is good to know when we got something right!

Daughters best friend lived in a huge old mansion , the type I would look at from afar and admire . We lived in a tiny two up two down with only a gas fire to heat the house. Her friend was often at our home and we enjoyed her company . When she met daughter again after a number of years passed she said she loved coming to our little red brick house as it was warm and homely.

A lovely thing to hear.

We had good neighbours . The children were always in one house or another and always joined in at lunchtime .

That's lovely. I sometimes have read of children not having a happy childhood but finding great comfort in spending time at the home of their school friend. What a nice mum you were OP.

I also read way back that a child having a very hard time at home felt that the tv programme Bagpuss helped her. She wanted to be the little girl Emily? featuring in it. I heard this on the radio when a tribute was being made to the writer of the series or it may have been an anniversary of that lovely programme.

My 2 school friends who I spent time with had not very nice parents!!!mainly the mothers as you never really saw the father' at home in the 50s 60s. So no cosy memories for me.

Thays a lovely complement to you,

What a lovely thing to say.