Sometimes when we go through hard times, it seems like God and/or the Universe (whatever or whoever you call it) perfectly positions people in our paths to make the pain and difficulties seem just a little bit easier.
After all, the tiniest gesture of kindness can mean all the world to us when the going gets tough.
That’s why Tricia J. Belstra was so appreciative of the airline staff and fellow passengers who went the extra mile to show their kindness when she was flying to go and bury her son.
She was sitting in between two strangers with a barf bag holding her head between her legs. A flight attendant asked her if she was OK brought her some water. Then another young man walked by her with the drink cart and asked her if she was OK and she told him why she was on the flight.
“He said he was so sorry and brought me a can of water, a glass of ice and my diet coke,” Belstra recalls in a Facebook post on the Love What Matters Facebook page. “The girl next to me offered to pour the water for me because my hands were shaking. When we landed the girl helped me with my luggage.”
But that wasn’t the extent of the kindness she was shown by perfect strangers that day.
“As I am leaving the plane the young man who waited on me was standing on the landing and as I walked off the plane he stopped me and handed me a napkin and said he was sorry for my loss and this wasn’t much,” he said. “I said thank you and walked out. When I got where I was out of the walkway and looked at the napkin he gave me and cried.”
The napkin had a special story on it that Belstra found comfort in.
It went like this:
“In 2004, my family lost my older brother. As traumatic as it still is for me, I can’t even pretend to truly know the pain you feel as a mother. I did, however, watch my mother’s grieving process (a process that will never end). Firstly, being a mother is about giving birth to new life as a promise to the future. Your mission doesn’t end now – your son’s life is bigger than his death and always will be. My mom struggled desperately chasing a far away goal of some how lessening the pain. As she has realized now, the pain hardly lessens. Don’t expend your energy trying to chase this. Instead, go all out finding opportunities to experience joy. Visit family, get closer to those you’ve lost touch with, travel. This is your story and you owe it to yourself and your son to make sure that you survive this. Do not pressure yourself. This world is full of people who do truly care about you, even if it doesn’t feel that way. I won’t stop thinking about you anytime soon or how you’re doing or what you’re up to. You’ll come out of this a stronger person and I’ll be rooting for you the whole time.”
She asked her priest to bless this man and he told her that he was “one of God’s soul angels.”
She is hoping people will share her post and that she will be able to find him so that she can thank God’s soul angels herself.
“Thank you so much for your kind words from a person that took the time to write this not even know me,” she wrote.
While we’re at it, we’ll take this opportunity to thank all of God’s soul angels in the world for helping us get through the pain of our tough times. Thank you for your love, compassion, and kindness!
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