I got pregnant at 15, so I got used to people’s judgment. One day, an elderly woman handed me a folded $20 bill and said, “Here, honey. Diapers get expensive.”
Later at home, I found a small piece of paper tucked inside that said: You’re stronger than you think.”
Years later, I discovered faint writing on the back—my name. I’d never met the woman before. One day, while visiting my mom, I mentioned the note—and she went quiet.
Then she smiled and said, “She was a neighbor I once helped when no one else would. Looks like she remembered.”
Story # 2. Kindness Across the Aisle
When I was 16, I was going with my family to New York, and it was supposed to be really hot there. I hadn’t been on airplanes very often, and didn’t know I should dress warm, especially on long flights. I wore a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and forgot to grab my sweatshirt out of my checked bag.
It was a night flight, and I was freezing trying to sleep. Attendants never came by, and I didn’t know I could ask for a blanket. I was away from my family next to this older, foreign tourist couple, and tried to do my best to sleep while I was freezing. I woke up after a few hours, and realized I wasn’t as cold as I was before. I sat up and saw I had this hand-knitted shawl wrapped around my shoulders.
The lady next to me must have seen the quizzical look on my face, as she then says in broken English, “You shake in sleep, I have this” pointing to the shawl. I thanked her profusely, and she says, “Go to sleep, he’s sleeping” pointing to her husband who had started to rouse. I fell back asleep for the rest of the flight and thanked her a million times more as we were getting off the plane. What a lovely woman. © scratpac4774 / Reddit