Brighten Your Day

Been meaning to post this for a while because I will never forget this lady and her kindness towards a complete stranger.

I'm in a long-distance relationship and last August I met my girlfriend in-person for the first time. We attended a friend's wedding in Germany (neither of us live there). Her flight home was several hours before mine so I went with her to the airport to see her off and then had to hang around Frankfurt airport for the guts of an entire day waiting for my own flight.

Needless to say I missed my girlfriend and was more than a bit upset.

My time was spent alternating between reading and heading out for a smoke and a cry. At one point I decided it's probably a good idea to have someone there to give me a hug when I land so I called up my wonderful mother to ask if she could be there when my plane arrives. Trying to talk on the phone really set me off. After I hung up the phone I just started sobbing.

Random lady with her two kids sat across from me noticed. She asked if I was okay, which I answered no, not really. She asked if she could get me a coffee or a cake from the café and I said I'd be fine, just gonna try to distract myself with my book. She told me if I wanted to talk about it she'd listen. Her simply showing care and concern for me, someone she didn't know at all, was a huge help already. Especially since, as a man, I'm used to being ridiculed for showing vulnerability like that.

After a little bit she said she had to go because her flight was soon. I thanked her again for her kindness. It really made a world of difference to my crappy day. But this wonderful woman wasn't done yet. Despite her having to wrangle two kids for a flight that was boarding soon, she returned a few minutes later with a Twix and a small bag of M&Ms for me.

She said "I know it won't fix whatever's wrong but hopefully it helps." I thanked her again before she left.

I know it's not the biggest gesture in the world but the fact that she went out of her way to be so kind to me really meant so much. I wanted to share the story here so others know of this lovely person and her care for some random dude who was crying in the airport.