In this Friday issue of The Upworthiest, Heather Wake introduces the 100-year-old who asked a band for some blues in C, then grabbed his flute and stole the show. Plus, the DNA test that told a mother her 2-year-old isn't hers, and the dog who answered four hopeful neighbors' letter personally.
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A man playing an instrument, left, and people dancing, right. | ||
100-year-old flute player asks band to play blues, then joins in and steals the show | ||
No one at the nursing home was ready. | ||
By Heather Wake | ||
It’s fairly commonplace for bands to lend their talents to facilities like nursing homes. It’s much rarer for those nursing home residents to end up joining the band. | ||
But such was the case for the Lithuanian-born musician known as DØVYDÅS, who was entertaining an elderly audience at a senior facility when a man in a fun Hawaiian shirt, said to be 100 years old, asked him to play any blues music in the key of C. | ||
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We’ve rounded up five things we found online this week that had us grinning from ear to ear (including one special story from Shriners Children’s)
The internet can be a noisy place. Every once in a while, though, you stumble on something that reminds you how much good is out there, and when we find it, we have to share it. (It's kind of our thing.)
So this week, with a little help from our friends at Shriners Children's™, we rounded up five of the most joyful things we found online, from a 16th-birthday puppy surprise to a plate of fries that announced a pregnancy to a young boy named Arlo who takes 80-foot rock walls at full speed. Consider it your antidote to the doomscroll.
Keep on running, Arlo! ♥️
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Heartbroken wife files for divorce after DNA test reveals 2-year-old son isn’t hers | ||
She first became suspicious when her son didn’t have blue eyes. | ||
By Tod Perry | ||
It’s pretty common to hear a story about a man whose life is turned upside down after a DNA test proves that he’s not the father of a child he thought was his. However, hearing a mother dealing with the same scenario is rare. That’s why a post on Reddit has so many people talking. | ||
A user named ThrowRA-3xbetrayal claims that a DNA test shows her husband is the father of the 2-year-old boy they’ve raised but she isn’t the biological mother. | ||
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An Upworthiest Quiz
Which country has the most people aged 100 or older?
Yesterday’s Results
In yesterday's issue, we shared the story of the one phrase researchers say can stop an argument before it spirals.
And we asked: Relationship researcher John Gottman calls it the single strongest predictor of divorce. Which of his "Four Horsemen" is it? 66% of you picked the right horseman. Gottman's research puts contempt at the top, because it sends the message, "I'm better than you. I don't respect you," and once it settles in, couples stop seeing each other's good qualities at all.
Criticism (14.3%)
Defensiveness (6.3%)
Stonewalling (13.5%)
Contempt (65.9%) ✅
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Four guys write a letter asking to walk their new neighbor’s dog. The dog writes back. | ||
“I am very friendly and full of beans.” | ||
By Tod Perry | ||
If you’ve lived your whole life with a dog, a home has to feel pretty empty without one. Your heart has to feel like there’s something missing as well. When Jack McCrossan, originally from Scotland, moved to Bristol, England with his three friends, they were bummed out to learn that their landlord didn’t allow dogs. | ||
So when they saw a beautiful black Sheprador (a German Sheppard Lab mix) in their neighbor’s window, they knew that had to become buddies with her. They wrote the dog’s owner, Sarah Tolman, a letter asking to arrange a play date with the dog. “If you ever need someone to walk him/her, we will gladly do so,” they wrote. | ||
“If you ever get bored (we know you never will, but we can dream), we are more than happy to look after him/her. If you want to come over and bring him/her to brighten our day, you are more than welcome. If you want to walk past our balcony windows so we can see him/her, please do,” the letter continued. | ||
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