Stories of Kindness from Around the World

A Chair For Our Friend Walt


--by sllynch, posted Sep 18, 2007

We live in a small town and the staff at our office frequent a small coffee shop on a regular basis for our morning coffee break. We get to meet all sorts of people who are regulars.


One older couple who came in regularly on Thursdays and we would greet them and exchange a few words.  They had travelled from an adjacent community to do their grocery shopping (they liked our smaller town because there was less traffic).  They would hold hands and smile as they came in each Thursday morning. 

One Thursday we saw that the husband came in alone. He looked tired and stressed out.  It turned out that his wife had taken ill and was in the hospital. I think he continued to come in for the next few Thursdays as a diversion from the stress of his wife's illness. We didn't see him for some time and then he came in looking very tired and sad.  He walked past us to sit alone and one of our staff went over and asked how he was doing. He broke into tears to let us know that his wife had passed away.  It broke our hearts to see him in such pain. He said he didn't know if he could go on living without her.

We made a point of keeping a chair for him every Thursday and have continued to do so for the last 6 months. He is doing much better now and we tell him that we always make a point to come in on Thursdays to see him.  He is much better now and he greets us with a big smile when he walks into the coffee shop to see us waiting for him!  We are planning a "lunch" date now. 

Just a little kindness can make a HUGE difference in someone's life.

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Readers Comments

smoothsugardoll wrote: What a wonderful person you are. I wonder if you know how great your story is touching people. It brought tears to my eyes. God bless you.
JuneBug wrote: I know someone who lost his wife not too long ago... We would invite them over to sit by the fire outside. She was soo funny! We continue to invite him over and I think it makes him happy although we all truely miss her being in company ...You are wonderful to do what you do for him. I am sure he appreciates it also..
xamphia wrote: I think you really made a difference! Well done!
babynurse wrote: Beautiful story. We all need to show each other love and kindness.
AURELIA wrote: That's so nice!You've truly touched his heart. That's so wonderful that your OFFICE gets to coffee break together. Where I live, we are lucky if we get away from our desk at all. That gentleman is lucky that you extended such a welcoming hand to him. I'm smiling...:) ~Aurelia
brighteyes wrote: Great story and kindness....I just posted a story with a quote called Sometimes on the same subject.

Smiles from Brighteyes ;)
sukithecat wrote: Thank you both... Sukithecat!

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