Ann Curry is in the news again, after she talked with Elle magazine about her her “brief, awkward year” as the cohost of NBC’s Today Show, next to Matt Lauer.

Maybe you remember this: Curry was released from that prestige assignment in 2012, supposedly because she didn’t get along with Lauer.

(Of course later, after the circumstances under which Lauer was shown the door himself, not getting along with him sounded more like of a badge of honor.)

As it happens, I have an Ann Curry story of my own. Actually, it’s my sister’s story.

It’s very simple. As my sister told it to me once, it’s about how she and her husband and their son (my nephew) were on the same plane as Curry and her husband — I’m guessing back in maybe 2008 or 2010 at the latest?

They were flying from Lima, Peru to Miami. My nephew is taller than me now, but back then he was little, and you can imagine the experience, flying internationally with little kids.

You’re trudging down the aisle, struggling with the immense packload of things you need to travel with a child, feeling like everyone is silently blaming you for the late departure they're sure will follow.

Curry and her husband, Brian Ross, came to the rescue.

"Her husband carried [the] car seat," my sister recounted years afterward. "They looked like a nice, smart, decent family."

And, scene. That’s it. That’s the story.

That’s also my enduring feeling when I hear the name “Ann Curry.”

Not, "war correspondent and respected reporter."

Not, "presence on NBC News for the better part of two decades."

Not, "co-anchor who people thought Matt Lauer screwed out her spot on The Today Show."

Instead: "that journalist and her husband who were nice to my sister on an airplane."

The poet Maya Angelou famously said, "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

This story is that sentiment in action. It's about the quick, positive interaction you have with with an employee that builds loyalty to a brand for years to come.

It's about the kindness you see a colleague pay to someone without knowing you're there, that makes you see them in a completely different light.

And sometimes, it's the opposite: the unthinking, negative experience that colors your image of a person or an institution for life.

We're human. It happens.

But I also hope we've all had our Ann Curry moments--those positive impressions that people remember, even when they don't remember us.

And now that you've heard it and thought about it, perhaps you'll remember it too.

7 other things/people/etc.

• JPMorgan Chase is calling its traders back to the office. I wrote about it for Inc. (Inc.)

• Oh, and I also wrote this slightly less-serious analysis stringing together a couple of psychological studies to “prove” that kids who have dogs grow up to be more successful adults. While we’re at it, apparently I messed up the link to another of my stories last week, so here it is — about American Airlines revealing that 85 percent of its passengers in June were on the cheapest, Basic Economy tickets. (Inc.)

• The NFL season began, and you can hardly begin to count the ways football is different now. For one thing, every player in the Seahawks vs. Falcons game took a knee during the opening kickoff, and only one stadium in the league had fans. (The Daily Beast, Associated Press)

• Every wondered how you can get Google to blur out the photo it has of your home on Street View? Here’s how. (Mashable)

• The U.S.-Canada border is scheduled to reopen on September 21, but apparently most Canadians don’t want it to. (Bellingham Herald)

• Apropos of nothing, ahem, a new study says women are predisposed to be more attracted to men with beards. Caveat: Unkempt beards have the opposite effect. (Psychology Today)

• A pod of 'crazy' killer whales is launching coordinated attacks on boats, terrifying the sailors and baffling scientists. (Insider)

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Photo is just a YouTube screen grab. The Ann Curry story is a good one, I’ve told it before in a different context on Inc. If you liked this post, and you’re not yet a subscriber, please sign up for the daily Understandably.com email newsletter, with thousands and thousands of 5-star ratings from happy readers. You can also just send an email to signup@understandably.com. And now, you can also get it by text at (718) 866-1753.

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