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Jennifer Garner's 'nerdy farm facts' about pumpkins is delightfully educational

The overalls ๐Ÿ˜

jennifer garner, growing pumpkins
@jennifer.garner/Instagram

Jennifer Garner can talk about pumpkins with us all day, everyday.

Move over PSLs. The new mark of fall is Jennifer Garner sharing โ€œnerdy farm factsโ€ from her very own pumpkin patch.

In an adorable video posted to her Instagram, the โ€œ13 Going on 30โ€ actress sported dungarees and a sun hat while holding a large yellow flower (spoiler alert: itโ€™s a soon-to-be pumpkin) and educating us all on how pumpkins grow.

โ€œThis flower is both male and female. Thereโ€™s a pistol inside and it needs the pollen,โ€ she said. โ€œDo you know who takes care of that? Bees! Thank you for the bees!โ€

Continuing her delightful and informative spiel, Garner tried to hold up the flower to show where the pollen from said bees might fall inside it. However, the wind kept the flower from exposing itself in such a way.

โ€œOhโ€ฆsheโ€™s shyโ€ฆโ€ Garner quipped.


Once pollen does reach inside the pistol, โ€œthe miracle continues.โ€ Garner then held the flower sideways to show what looked like the botanical version of a pregnant belly, and said, โ€œThis is when you get the email that says, โ€˜Congratulations, Mama Pumpkin. Your baby is the size of a large grape.'"

As Garner explained, this is when the seedling โ€œkeeps growing and growing,โ€ to the point where the flower portion will eventually โ€œcurl and dry off.โ€

Picking up a full formed pumpkin still growing on a vine, she added that, โ€œitโ€™s like a little umbilical cord, itโ€™s crazy.โ€

Cut to Garner holding up two small green pumpkins, joking that they are โ€œa nice size b.โ€

Watch Jennifer Garnerโ€™s โ€˜Nerdy Farm Factsโ€™ video now:

Down in the comments, viewers were bee-yond happy with Garnerโ€™s pumpkin presentation.

โ€œ๐ŸŽƒ ๐Ÿ This cracks me up (and so informative!),โ€ one person wrote.

Another echoed, โ€œWell done! Thank you for educating us ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŽƒ๐Ÿ™Œ. Youโ€™re the best ๐Ÿ˜‚!!

Still another suggested that Garner start her own โ€œchildren's educational show ๐Ÿ‘โ€

A few also mentioned that those little blossoms are delicious in quesadillas. Recipe courtesy of Homesick Texan below:

Squash Blossom Quesadilla Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 poblano pepper
  • 24 squash blossoms, stems and stamens removed.
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 half medium-yellow onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon dried epazote (can substitute with 1/4 fresh cilantro)
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 1/2 pounds (6 cups) Oaxacan, Monterey Jack, or Muenster cheese, grated
  • 12 corn or flour tortillas
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • Salsa verde, for serving

Instructions

  1. Put the poblano under the broiler for about 10 minutes, turning once until it blackens. Place in a plastic bag, close it and let it sit for about 20 minutes. After this time has passed, take poblano out of the bag, peel it (skin should shred off easily), remove stem and seeds and dice.
  2. Gently wash the squash blossoms (there might be bugs inside) and remove stems and stamens. Roughly chop.
  3. Heat skillet to medium and add the olive oil. Add onions and diced poblano and cook for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent.
  4. Add garlic, epazote, squash blossoms, salt, and pepper and sautรฉ for 10 minutes or until all the liquid from the flowers has evaporated. Remove from heat and set squash-blossom filling aside. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed.
  5. In a skillet heated to medium, melt a tablespoon of butter. Add a tortilla and cook it on one side until it puffs (about 30 seconds). Flip tortilla over and sprinkle over entire surface 1/4 cup of squash blossom filling and 1/2 cup of grated cheese.
  6. Top with another tortilla, and after cheese has melted and the 2 tortillas stick together (a couple of minutes), flip quesadilla and cook for a couple of minutes more or until lightly browned.
  7. Repeat for the remainder of the filling and tortillas. Serve warm with salsa verde on the side, if you like.

Sounds like a great recipe for Garner to try on her โ€œPretend Cooking Show.โ€ Itโ€™s sure to be utterly wholesome and entertaining, just like everything else she does.

Unsplash

Students working; an empty classroom.

When talking with other parents I know, it's hard not to sound like a grumpy old man when we get around to discussing school schedules: "Am I the only one who feels like kids have so many days off? I never got that many days off when I was a kid! And I had to go work in the coal mine after, too!" I know what I sound like, but I just can't help it.

In Georgia where I live, we have a shorter summer break than some other parts of the country. But my kids have the entire week of Thanksgiving off, a week in September, two whole weeks at Christmas, a whole week off in February, and a weeklong spring break. They have asynchronous days (during which they complete assignments at home, which usually takes about 30 minutes) about once a month, and they have two or three half-day weeks throughout the year. Quite honestly, it feels like they're never in school for very long before they get another break, which makes it tough to get in a rhythm with work and career goals. Plus, we're constantly arranging day camps and other childcare options for all the time off. After a quick search, I can confirm I'm not losing my mind: American kids have fewer school days than most other major countries.

ย school's out, school days, school week, work week, schedulesย Schools Out Fun GIF by Pen Palsย ย Giphyย ย 

So, it caught my attention in a major way when I read that Whitney Independent School District in Texas recently decided to enact a four-day week heading into the 2025 school year. That makes it one of dozens of school districts in Texas to make the change and over 900 nationally.

The thought of having the kids home from school EVERY Friday or Monday makes me want to break out in stress hives, but this four-day school week movement isn't designed to give parents a headache. It's meant to lure teachers back to work.

Yes, teachers are leaving the profession in droves and young graduates don't seem eager to replace them. Why? For starters, the pay is badโ€”but that's just the beginning. Teachers are burnt out, undermined and criticized relentlessly, held hostage by standardized testing, and more. It can be a grueling, demoralizing, and thankless job. The love and passion they have for shaping the youth of tomorrow can only take you so far when you feel like you're constantly getting the short end of the stick.

School districts want to pay their teachers more, in theory, but their hands are often tied. So, they're getting creative to recruit the next generation of teachers into their schoolsโ€”starting with an extra day off for planning, catch-up, or family time every week.

Teachers in four-day districts often love the new schedule. Kids love it (obviously). It's the parents who, as a whole, aren't super thrilled.

ย school, kids, teachers, instruction time, classes, scheduleย Class in sessionย Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplashย ย 

So far, the data shows that the truncated schedule perk is working. In these districts, job applications for teachers are up, retirements are down, and teachers are reporting better mental well-being. That's great news!

But these positive developments may be coming at the price of the working parents in the communities. Most early adopters of the four-day week have been rural communities with a high prevalence of stay-at-home parents. As the idea starts to take hold in other parts of the country, it's getting more pushback. Discussions on Reddit, Facebook, and other social media platforms are overrun with debate on how this is all going to shake up. Some parents, to be fair, like the idea! If they stay-at-home or have a lot of flexibility, they see it as an opportunity for more family time. But many are feeling anxious. Here's what's got those parents worried:

The effect on students' achievement is still unclear.

The execution of the four-day week varies from district to district. Some schools extend the length of each of the four days, making the total instructional time the same. That makes for a really long day, and some teachers say the students are tired and more unruly by the late afternoon. Some districts are just going with less instruction time overall, which has parents concerned that their kids might fall behind.

Four-day school weeks put parents in a childcare bind.

Having two working parents is becoming more common and necessary with the high cost of living. I know, I knowโ€”"school isn't daycare!" But it is the safe, reliable, and educational place we send our kids while we we work.

Families with money and resources may be able to enroll their kids in more academics, extracurriculars, sports, or childcare, but a lot of normal families won't be able to afford that cost. Some schools running a four-day week offer a paid childcare option for the day off, but that's an added expense and for families with multiple kids in the school system, it's just not possible.

This will inevitably end with some kids getting way more screentime.

With most parents still working five-day weeks, and the cost of extra activities or childcare too high, a lot of kids are going to end up sitting around on the couch with their iPad on those days off. I'm no expert, and I'm certainly not against screentime, but adding another several hours of it to a child's week seems less than ideal.

Of course there are other options other than paid childcare and iPads. There are play dates, there's getting help from family and friends. All of these options are an enormous amount of work to arrange for parents who are already at capacity.

Working four days is definitely a win for teachers that makes the job more appealing. But it doesn't address the systemic issues that are driving them to quit, retire early, or give up their dreams of teaching all together.

ย teachers, stress, education, work, jobย Season 3 Running GIF by The Simpsonsย ย Giphyย ย 

A Commissioner of Education from Missouri calls truncated schedules a "band-aid solution with diminishing returns." Having an extra planning day won't stop teachers from getting scapegoated by politicians or held to impossible curriculum standards, it won't keep them from having to buy their own supplies or deal with ever-worsening student behavior.

Some teachers and other experts have suggested having a modified five-day school week, where one of the days gets set aside as a teacher planning day while students are still on-site participating in clubs, music, artโ€”you know, all the stuff that's been getting cut in recent years. Something like that could work in some places.

As a dad, I don't mind the idea of my busy kids having an extra day off to unwind, pursue hobbies, see friends, catch up on projects, or spend time as a family. And I'm also very much in favor of anything that takes pressure off of overworked teachers. But until we adopt a four-day work week as the standard, the four-day school week is always going to feel a little out of place.

This article originally appeared in February. It has been updated.

Canva Photos & Konami

People have found a really great active listening technique in a super strange place.

There is an art to being a good listener. Physically using your ears to hear what someone is saying, and your brain to process it, is only part of the battle. You also have to show the person you're talking to that you're listening and that you care. Asking questions is a great way to keep the conversation flowing and let your talking partner know you're engaged. But what if you're socially anxious, shy, or just can't think of anything to say? It's harder than it seems, especially when meeting new people!

The solution is easy. Just take a page out of Solid Snake's book. Who's Solid Snake? Just a former Green Beret, special ops solider, spy, assassin, and the protagonist of the popular Metal Gear Solid video games. You might wonder what the heck Solid Snake, aka David, knows about active listening. It turns out, quite a lot.

The "Solid Snake conversation method" is taking the world by storm. It's part trend, part meme, and 100% effective.

ย conversation tips, social anxiety, small talk, socializing, etiquette, politeness, introvert, video gamesย Solid Snake is here to help your social anxiety!ย ย Giphyย ย 

You don't need to know anything about video games to understand where the method comes from. Suffice it to say, Metal Gear Solid is a plot-heavy game series, full of cut-scenes that feature lots of dialogue and exposition.

It's become a bit of a joke in the gaming world that Snake, a man of few words, tends to fall back on one particular conversational technique over and over: He repeats, or echoes, bits of what the other characters say. It adds emphasis to important points, creates good conversational pacing, and allows the plot and dialogue to continue on smoothly.

Here's a (made up) example:

"Snake, we've got to get the blueprints!"

"The blueprints?"

"Yes, the bad guys are constructing a devastating bomb!"

"A bomb?"

"Indeed! You'll find the prototype in that bunker over there."

"A bunker?"

You get the idea. You can watch it in action here.


ย ย - YouTubeย ย www.youtube.comย ย 

Why does this random video game character speak in this strange cadence? And why are people stealing it to use in real life?

You might think this dialogue is just a clunky tool for exposition or the result of bad writing, but you'd be wrong!

The Metal Gear Solid games are written and developed in Japan by a team led by legendary developer Hideo Kojima. Though translated into English and created in part for an American audience, the games feature a lot of bits and pieces of Japanese culture.

Frequent repetition and conversational echoes are extremely commonplace in Japanese. It's part of a polite active listening technique called "Aizuchi," which refers to frequent interjections to show interest, engagement, reassurance, and politeness.

Aizuchi includes interjecting with words or phrases (or their equivalents) like "I get it," "Yeah," "Really?" or even repeating back parts of the original speaker's words, a la Solid Snake.

According to Niko Smith at FluentU, "Perhaps you already use some of these interjections in conversation. While your friend is [telling you a story]... you might nod a few times or throw in a surprised 'No way!' or 'What happened next?' [Aizuchi] works in a similar way, but itโ€™s more relentless. As the listener in a conversation, you might find yourself doing just as much talking as the speaker."

Smith adds that in America, young people are often taught specifically not to interrupt or speak while someone else is talking. In Japan, doing so frequentlyโ€”in the right wayโ€”is a sign of respect and interest.

Better yet, Aizuchi doesn't require the listener to be particularly brilliant in conversation, charismatic, or creative. Even socially awkward people, or anyone who clams up in social situations, can muster a few polite interjections!

This technique exists outside of Japanese culture, too. In fact, it's a well-known wat to keep conversations flowing effortlessly, give you time to think about what you're going to say, and make your conversation partner feel heard and appreciated.

It's no surprise that people familiar with the game have been trying the technique in real life for years. In 2023, a viral 4chan post helped popularize the idea, and more recently a (now deleted) post on X went super viral referencing how effective the "Solid Snake conversation method" is for meeting new people.

ย 

The technique is hitting home with young people, especially gamers and the chronically-online, which makes for a really productive and much-needed discussion.

Gen Z has grown up with social media taking the place of many in-person interactions, screens everywhere, and of course, the COVID years. All of these factors affect the way they communicate with each other, especially in real life:

Maddy Mussen writes for The Standard, "Gen Z slang is all about shutting people out. Itโ€™s an inside joke, the more unintelligible the better. Itโ€™s in keeping with its etymology. When your whole modus operandi is being exclusionary, it doesnโ€™t make for a lot of meaningful conversation."

It would be an unfair blanket generalization to say young people only speak in brainrot and have no idea how to operate in the real world. But Gen Z is racked with social anxiety to a far greater degree than previous generations. They need all the tools and practice they can get when it comes to operating in the real world and speaking to people they don't know well.

If they, or anyone else, can take a useful tip from their favorite video game character, there's nothing wrong with that at all.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

It seems like most people are feeling wiped out these days. There's a reason for that.

We're more than four years past the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's been a weird ride, to say the least. These years have been hard, frustrating, confusing and tragic, and yet we keep on keeping on. Except the keeping on part isn't quite as simple as it sounds.

We've sort of collectively decided to move on, come what may. This year has been an experiment in normalcy, but one without a testable hypothesis or clear design. And it's taken a toll. So many people are feeling tired, exhausted, worn thin ("like butter scraped over too much bread," as Bilbo Baggins put it) these days.

But why?

Psychologist and speaker Naomi Holdt beautifully explained what's behind the overarching exhaustion people are feeling as we close out 2022, and it makes perfect sense. Holdt is a psychologist, author, and speaker with over two decades of experience, and specializes in the emotional well-being of children and young adults. She is also the author of "How to Raise Resilient Kids and Teens."

In a post on Facebook, she wrote:

"A gentle reminder about why you are utterly exhaustedโ€ฆ

No one I know began this year on a full tank. Given the vicious onslaught of the previous two years (letโ€™s just call it what it was) most of us dragged ourselves across the finish line of 2021โ€ฆ frazzled, spent, running on aged adrenaline fumesโ€ฆ

We crawled into 2022 still carrying shock, trauma, grief, heaviness, disbeliefโ€ฆ The memories of a surreal existenceโ€ฆ

And then it beganโ€ฆ The fastest hurricane year we could ever have imagined. Whether we have consciously processed it or not, this has been a year of more pressure, more stress, and a race to 'catch up' in all departmentsโ€ฆ Every. Single. One. Work, school, sports, relationships, lifeโ€ฆ

Though not intentionally aware, perhaps hopeful that the busier we are, the more readily we will forgetโ€ฆ the more easily we will undo the emotional tangleโ€ฆ the more permanently we will wipe away the scarring woundsโ€ฆ

We canโ€™t.

And attempts to re-create some semblance of 'normal' on steroids while disregarding that for almost two years our sympathetic nervous systems were on full alert, has left our collective mental health in tatters. Our children and teens are not exempt. The natural byproduct of fighting a hurricane is complete and utter exhaustionโ€ฆ

So before you begin questioning the absolutely depleted and wrung-dry state you are in- Pause. Breathe. Remind yourself of who you are and what you have endured. And then remind yourself of what you have overcome.

Despite it all, youโ€™re still going. (Even on the days you stumble and find yourself face down in a pile of dirt).


ย tired, exhausted, wicker chair, psychology, tired woman, ย A tired woman relaxing in a chair.via Canva/Photos

Understanding brings compassionโ€ฆ Most of the worldโ€™s citizens are in need of a little extra TLC at the moment. Most are donning invisible 'Handle with care' posters around their necks and 'Fragile' tattoos on their bodiesโ€ฆ

Instead of racing to the finish line of this year, tread gently.

Go slowly. Amidst the chaos, find small pockets of silence. Find compassion. Allow the healing. And most of allโ€ฆ Be kind. Thereโ€™s no human being on earth who couldnโ€™t use just a little bit more of the healing salve of kindness."

Putting it like that, of course, we're exhausted. We're like a person who thinks they're feeling better at the end of an illness, so they dive fully back into life, only to crash midday because their body didn't actually have as much energy as their brain thought it did. We tried to fling ourselves into life, desperate to feel normal and make up for lost time, without taking the time to fully acknowledge the impact of the past two years or to fully recover and heal from it.


ย tired, exhausted, wicker chair, psychology, tired woman, ย A tired woman laying on the couch.via Canva/Photos

Of course, life can't just stop, but we do need to allow some time for our bodies, minds, and spirits to heal from what they've been through. The uncertainty, the precariousness of "normal," the after-effects of everything that upended life as we knew it are real. The grief and trauma of those who have experienced the worst of the pandemic are real. The overwhelm of our brains and hearts as we try to process it all is real.

So let's be gentle with one another and ourselves as we roll our harried selves into another new year. We could all use that little extra measure of grace as we strive to figure out what a true and healthy "normal" feels like.

You can follow Naomi Holdt on Facebook.

This article originally appeared three years ago.

Cat have their reasons for doing what they doโ€ฆeven if they perplex us.

Cats have their fair share of quirks, from midnight zoomies to baking invisible biscuits to those weird alien chirps. But the one eccentricity that seems to go against their very nature as descendants of apex predators is their finickiness around food.

As any cat mom or dad will tell you, these critters take picky eating to Olympian levels, rivaling that of any toddler. To really put that into perspective, below is a delightful TikTok (shared by @thecutestcatseveryes) outlining the very logical โ€œreasonsโ€ why on any given day, a cat might suddenly refuse to eatโ€ฆdespite yowling out of desperate hunger mere minutes before.

The โ€œreasons not to eat your food if you're a cat," include:

  1. Bowl was placed down too loudly.
  2. The vibe was off.
  3. Don't like chicken, as of today.
  4. Felt like I was being rushed.
  5. I'm a cat.

Even the kitty featured in the video seemed to approve this message.

ย 
ย @thecutestcatseveryes Reasons not to eat your food if you're a cat ๐Ÿ˜ธ #funnycatย #catloversย #cattokย #catsoftiktokย #kittensoftiktokย โ™ฌ Funny video "Carmen Prelude" Arranging weakness(836530) - yo suzuki(akisai)ย 
ย 
ย 


In the comments, other cat parents shared their purrfectly reasonable reasons to refuse noms noms, such as:

โ€œBowl was faced the wrong way.โ€

โ€œSame flavor twice in a row.โ€

โ€œI eat at 4:30pm, not 4:31pm.โ€

โ€œI can see the center of the bowl is empty therefore there is no food, edges donโ€™t count.โ€

โ€œI want the other can, not the open one in the fridge. New can every feeding."

โ€œIโ€™d rather eat what my brother is eating, which is exactly the same as what Iโ€™ve got but I want his specifically.โ€

Listen, we can joke all we want, but it turns out that cats likely come by these picky eating habits naturallyโ€”and donโ€™t do it simply to make our lives harder. Asย PetMDย explains, wild cats subsisted on frequent meals of whatever smaller mammals they were lucky enough to catch while hunting, usually during dawn and dusk. Domestic kitties still might have this instinct, which manifests in a predilection to eat a variety of small meals, which feel fresh as to mimic a fresh catch, throughout the day.

ย cats, cat food, best cat food, cat refusing to eat, funny cat videos, pets, picky cats, cat treatsย Look at this wee little tiger munching on his meal. Photo credit: Canva

The site added that kitties could have learned to prefer a certain type of food thanks to their mother, or might have eaten a particular food during a moment of stress or illness, and thus maintain a negative association with it.

There are, however, certain things humans can do to make food more appetizing, PetMD explains. To mimic fresh prey, the site suggests warming up food to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit (same as a normal body temperature) and moisten dry food with a bit of water. Some cats might even respond better to food that has the specific shape and look of fresh prey.

ย cats, cat food, best cat food, cat refusing to eat, funny cat videos, pets, picky cats, cat treatsย And if there's a loud noise during dinnertime, forget about it. Photo credit: Canva

Of course, even if we follow all these steps to a T, we still might get some finickiness from time to time for reasons unbeknownst to us (though โ€œvibes being offโ€ is a good catchall excuse). Still, it wonโ€™t keep us from loving our furry little weirdos any more.

Heroes

Pittsburgh airport staff heroically recover diamond that fell from woman's ring at baggage claim

She was sure the conveyor belt had eternally claimed her 33-year-old engagement diamond.

Pittsburgh airport staff heroically finds woman's lost diamond

An engagement ring isn't the start of a journey with a partnerโ€”it's a promise to continue the journey you've already started. That's why engagement rings hold so much sentimental value to the person who receives it. The ring is something they cherish forever in most cases, which is exactly why when April Schmitt realized she lost the diamond out of her engagement ring she flew into a panic.

She knew the stone was lost somewhere near or in the baggage claim area at the Pittsburgh International Airport in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Schmitt has been married to her husband for more than 30 years, so she knows her engagement ring like the back of her hand (literally). The diamond was sitting in its pronged setting when she landed at the airport and made her way to the baggage claim area, but she noticed it was gone shortly after her husband picked her up from the airport.

Once she realized her stone was missing from her ring, she became panicked. She said in a statement, โ€œI panicked and my heart sank. I truly didnโ€™t think I was ever going to see it again.โ€

ย lost diamond; diamond; Pittsburgh airport staff; airport lost diamond; found diamond; good news; humanityย Travelers wait at the baggage claim carousel.Photo credit: Canva

The couple, who live in Sewickley, just a quick 30 minute or less drive down the road, immediately made their way back to the airport to find the missing diamond. Some diamonds may appear large when they're placed on a band but unless they turn into a strobe light, they're nearly impossible to see in an open, bustling space. Schmitt knew finding the diamond was a long shot but there was no way she was going to let the stone disappear without trying her best to locate it.

When the couple returned to the airport, Schmitt informed the staff about her missing diamond and was met with immense kindness. In this instance, it would've been easy to brush off looking for a clear stone in such a large space but that's not what happened. Instead, the staff member she alerted contacted airport maintenance. Suddenly, they had an entire team of people looking for the diamond.

ย lost diamond; diamond; Pittsburgh airport staff; airport lost diamond; found diamond; good news; humanityย Elegant diamond rings sparkling in warm light.Photo credit: Canva

The maintenance crew came with flashlights and searched over, under, and in between the baggage carousel for the diamond. They searched so long that the Schmitts had actually given up and returned home assuming that the sentimental stone was lost forever. But the crew they left behind was determined. Tom Riordan, a stationary engineer, assured the upset woman that the next shift would continue to look for the diamond between flights until it was located, and they did just that.

It was Sean Dempsey, a fellow stationary engineer, who eventually located the missing stone. He told ABC News, "I just was crawling with a flashlight, and we had paint sticks to scrape all the dirt away,โ€ he said. โ€œThe diamond caught a little bit of light and I found it.โ€

Schmitt was thrilled to get the call that her missing diamond had been found. โ€œThere were so many ways this story could have ended, but these guys were committed to helping me. I travel a lot, and I go to a lot of airports. To have this experience here and to be treated like an important personโ€”those staffers were so concerned about my happiness and doing the right thing for me. I was not just a random passenger. They went out of their way to take care of me.โ€

The staff at Pittsburgh International Airport was happy they could be of assistance. Elise Gomez, manager of customer experience at PIT tells Blue Sky News, Weโ€™ve really invested in our passenger experience and do everything we can to ensure seamless travel. We know travel can be stressful, which is why we have a variety of programs from our PIT Paws teams to amenities like Presleyโ€™s Place for travelers with sensory sensitivities. And of course, at the end of the day, itโ€™s about people. Our team is dedicated to assisting passengers whether thatโ€™s helping them find the right gate or finding a lost diamond.โ€

ย lost diamond; diamond; Pittsburgh airport staff; airport lost diamond; found diamond; good news; humanityย Vibrant cityscape with a classic red funicular and riverfront views.Photo credit: Canva

This isn't the first time the PIT crew has helped locate a missing diamond. In 2023 Kristen Tunno lost her grandmother's diamond ring while at the airport. April Laukaitis, a customer care agent located the family heirloom lodged between the tiles of one of the bathroom floors.

Airports aren't known for their hospitality so it's always nice to hear when airport staff go above and beyond to be compassionate to travelers.