Today's Challenge: Talk about a random act of kindness.
I really am not one to toot my own horn. I feel like talking about my own acts of kindness negates them in some way. I will share anyway. Because this is a challenge after all. But I will keep it brief.
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| Tera with Big William in 2010. We were enrolling him at Tech. |
Probably my biggest act of kindness ever was when I took in a homeless teen. He was my son's friend, although they weren't super close at the time. At just 16, his mother had recently kicked him to the curb. I noticed that he kept spending the night, so I said something to my son about how he needed to go home. That's when I found out he didn't have a home anymore. When he wasn't spending the night with a friend, he was spending the night in the park. That was all I needed to hear. My son had a sleeper sofa and a bed in his room so we moved "Big William" in. He stood 6'8" and 200 lbs at the time, thus the name. He quickly became a member of the family.
One year he made me a card for Mother's Day that was so sweet.
My son now considers him a brother and Big William keeps in touch with him constantly. He calls me and makes comments on Facebook and every now and then he will stop by to say hello to me at work. I still do little things for him occasionally, like proofreading and editing his resume for him recently. Even though he is out on his own now and has even reconciled with his mother, Big William will always have a special place in our hearts.
A beautiful gesture of compassion!
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you were able to be a "mom" to him! I hope to have that relationship with my kids in the future, that they know that their friends can count on me! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWow! What an awesome random act. I also get what you mean about talking making them somehow not so random anymore. Something about the secret-ness makes them even more special. Glad to pop over from Summer Blog Challenge.
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