“I don’t mean to intrude, but I overheard that your granddaughter’s headed to Denver for treatment?”
She looked at him with wide eyes of surprise. “Oh my goodness, I didn’t know anyone heard.” Chemo will begin next week, yes.”
I gave her a soft smile to make her feel better. “There are two seats in front of me in business class.” Someone I work with missed the flight, so they’re not full.
Would you two like to switch places with me?”
She quickly blinked, and her mouth opened and shut. “Sir, you’re being too nice. We were not able to—”
The girl looked up at me with big eyes.
“Really, Grandma?” Forward? Like the important people?”
As the woman thought, tears quickly came to her eyes. “Are you sure you have?
That ticket price is really high. When I said, “I’m positive,” I really meant it. “The flight is long.
It will give you more room to stretch, and she will feel better. Please, I beg you.”
One of her shaking hands went over her mouth and she whispered, “Bless you, dear.” “Bless your heart.”
After I talked to the flight attendant about switching places, they were taken care of in business class ten minutes later. From afar, I saw as a flight worker helped them settle in by showing them how to recline their seats.
Through the gap in the seats, I could just make out the people in front of me from my new class spot. The little girl was so happy that she was pressing every button on the armrest like it was a control panel for a rocket. At the same time, her grandmother laughed softly next to her.
Around the middle of the trip, a flight attendant with a folded napkin came by. In a low voice, she said, “She asked me to give you this.”
I carefully opened it up and read the words. “Being kind is the best medicine.” Ruth and Ellie say “thank you.”
I smiled and put the napkin back in its place before putting it in my pocket next to the picture of my mom.
The woman found me near baggage claim when we got to Denver. Ellie was in her hand, and the two of them looked more relaxed than they did at the gate. She gave me a tight, warm hug like a mother would.
“I don’t know how to thank you,” she told me over my shoulder. She’s been really scared about this trip. For a short time, you made her forget.
“You made her smile.”
I told her it wasn’t important. She moved away and looked at me. “You’re a good person.” “Don’t forget that ever.”
Then she and Ellie slipped into the crowd of travelers, carrying Ellie’s stuffed bunny with them.
That made me think that was the end of it. A nice time, a good act, and something I’ll always remember with love. I was totally wrong.
After about six months, the hospital called me. I felt sick when the number showed on my phone in the middle of a meeting. Hi, Mr.
Lawson. This is the hospital St. Mary’s.
This morning, your mom passed out at the store. “She is stable now, but please come in as soon as possible.”
My heart stopped beating. I ran after my keys.
I hurried to get there and could hardly breathe the whole way. Finally, I saw her. She was pale but awake, sitting up in a hospital bed.
I could breathe again. It was a weak “I’m fine, sweetheart.” “I felt dizzy while getting my medication. A nice woman helped me up before I fell.”
The nurse gave a warm smile.
“She’s lucky that someone called 911 right away.” It could have been very bad if she had been by herself when she fell. She might have hit her head or something worse. I frowned in confusion.
“Who called?” Who was with her?”
The nurse put the chart down and looked at it. “A woman named Ruth. It took her until the ambulance got there.
That trip from six months ago came to mind when I saw the name. Was Ruth the same? The same woman I met on the plane?
As I entered the waiting room, my thoughts were going all over the place. I saw Ruth right there. She was by the window in a plastic chair.
Her eyes were still kind, but she looked weaker and thinner now. I said, “Hey, Ruth.”
She gasped and looked up, putting her hand to her chest. “You—you’re—”
It was “the guy from the plane,” I said, laughing in shock.
“The one who gave you the seats.”
She reached out and grabbed both of my hands. “That day, you made my Ellie smile for the first time in weeks.” Fate told me it was time to repay the favor.”
I smiled because I couldn’t believe that fate had brought us back together. Ruth and my mom became close friends over the next few months.
Every day, they talked on the phone, shared casserole and pie recipes, and every Thursday night, they watched old comedies together. Ellie, who was still sick but still happy, would sometimes come with us to visit. With that worn-out bunny in her arms, she always did things.
She colored pictures at my mom’s kitchen table while the other women laughed in the living room. Mom called Ruth “my angel neighbor,” even though they lived 20 minutes apart. Ruth really meant it when she called her mom “my second family.”
Ruth invited us to a charity event at the community center on a sunny Saturday.
The event raised money for cancer care for kids, and Ellie was the special speaker. The pink dress she chose herself sparkled, and she had the cutest smile I’d ever seen on a child. As soon as she saw me walk in, she ran up to me.
“Hey, did you know I flew first class once?”
I laughed and got down on her level. “I remember that very well.”
She smiled, and her eyes sparkled. “My grandmother says that’s when things got better.” It’s like you wished us luck.
Even though my throat got tight, I was able to smile. “I think you two made your own luck, kiddo.”
A few weeks later, things changed in a way no one saw coming. My mom’s heart situation got worse all of a sudden, even though it had been stable for years.
While she was in a rehab center doing physical therapy, she had a sudden heart attack. When my phone rang, I was two hours away at a business meeting. When I saw the number of the building, my blood ran cold.
The nurse quickly told me, “Your mother is now stable.” She could tell I was scared. “But she almost got hurt. It was just in time that someone found her and called 911.
“Who?” I asked because I felt like I knew the answer. “A woman named Ruth. She came to drop off knitted blankets for the patients and saw your mom pass out in the hallway.
Of course that person was Ruth. She came by to help out and brought blankets that she had made herself over the course of several weeks. She quickly called for help when she saw my mom pass out and stayed by her side until the doctors arrived.
Afterward, they told me that the extra 30 seconds were very important. There were thirty seconds between my life and something I couldn’t even think about. From then on, I no longer believed in chances at all.
Ruth did more than just keep my mom alive. They spent more time together, laughed more, and watched TV together more Thursday nights. For Mom’s return from the facility, we had a small dinner party.
Of course Ruth and Ellie came too. Ellie looked healthy as can be because her hair had started to grow back in soft curls. Ruth raised her sweet tea glass at the table.
“To kindness,” she whispered, “the kind that flies further than we ever expect it to.”
Mom gave her a tight squeeze. “And to you, Ruth. I fell, but you caught me.
After a year, Ruth died peacefully while she slept. To tell me the news, her daughter called me, and then she said Ruth had left something just for me. There was a small wooden box covered with care inside.
There was a letter written by hand and boarding passes from the same flight inside. “Dear Daniel,
You sat a sick girl and her tired grandmother in business class one time. Your mom got another chance to breathe after that.
Being kind doesn’t go away when we’re done with it. It comes back to you when you least expect it, and sometimes it seems like a miracle. You helped me remember that even a small spot swap can make a person’s life better.
With all my love, “Ruth”
That letter is now framed and on my desk at work. We should remember that kindness doesn’t end where we think it does. It sometimes keeps going, flies a little farther, and comes back to its home.
I now take a close look around every time I get on a plane. I think of Ruth and Ellie whenever I see someone who looks stressed, tired, or having a hard time with a sick kid. And sometimes I give up my seat again without giving it a second thought.
Not because I want praise or believe I’m good. But once, two strangers showed me the real way the world works. Being kind doesn’t just get you one way.
It always goes both ways and comes back home.
