Grieving grandfather’s actions when he sees a toddler moves mom to tears
The world is so new to toddlers and as soon as they learn something they can’t wait to share it with everyone.
Colby and Alyssa Hacker’s toddler son, Owen, loved shouting ‘Hello’ and ‘Bye’ to people, but on this occasion a man’s response to her son’s loud greetings left her in tears.
Alyssa found herself killing time at Target in Fort Smith, Arkansas, with Owen this weekend while they were visiting her mother-in-law in nearby Wister, Oklahoma. She wasn’t surprised, she told, when her son suddenly yelled out “Hi!” while he was in her cart playing with three stuffed dinosaurs he had spotted in the toy aisle. But what happened next did surprise her.
The only person around them in the aisle was an older gentleman who turned around and addressed Owen directly, Alyssa said. “Hi, sweet boy,” he said, and he began playing with the dinosaurs with her son.
Owen was in the front playing with three stuffed dinosaurs (he was trying to decide which one he wanted most) and Hacker says the man didn’t think twice before joining him.
What occured next brought tears to her eyes.
“The man got his wallet out and pulled a $20 out, he put it in Owen’s pocket on his shirt and said ‘I just lost my 2-year-old grandson last week. You take this money and buy this boy all three dinosaurs.’”
Alyssa said the man rubbed Owen’s back, wiped his tears and walked off. Owen then shouted ‘thank you’ after the man.
‘Hold on to these memories’
“There is still some good in this world,” wrote Alyssa.
Despite feeling a little protective over Owen when the man first approached them, the mom ended up “crying in the middle of Target.”
Alyssa did use the $20 to buy Owen all three of the dinosaurs he was so enamored with in the store. “These three stuffed dinosaurs have more meaning than I ever thought a stuffed animal from Target could have,” she said. “We will hold on to these memories forever!”
Alyssa posted about the sweet encounter on her Facebook page in an effort to share something positive with her friends.
“Everyone can use a reminder that there are still good people in this crazy, mixed-up world,” she said.
She has been shocked by the response to the post, which has now been shared over 105,000 times on Facebook in just a few days.
Her post went viral and Alyssa referred to her sweet son as a “blessing” and was elated to share his light with the world. Alyssa also expressed: “I did pray that night that God would give me the ability to be able to teach and translate to Owen what he did for that gentleman as well as what the gentleman did for us.”
Source:today.com, southernliving.com, en.newsner.com
