A Thanksgiving Act of Kindness That Returned Two Years Later

Thanksgiving had become a quiet, heavy day for me after losing my wife, Marla. Grief had narrowed my world to simple routines, and when our daughter moved overseas, the silence only deepened. That morning, trying to escape the emptiness, I went to the store to buy a small meal. Outside, beneath a leafless tree, I noticed a woman sitting alone in the cold without a jacket, her posture tired and fragile.