Losing a child is a sadness that no parent should ever have to suffer. Indeed, the couple in this short story today suffered similar anguish, but it was through the death of their kid that the father discovered his family, which he had no idea existed. The story was inspired by AmoMama readers and will make you believe that everything happens just as it should, even if it does not appear to be so at first.
An Unnecessary Passing
Meg and Jude had lost their daughter a few years back. Her death had been absolutely preventable. She had gone in for surgery to remove her appendix, but the surgeon doing the procedure had done a double shift and was exhausted. He made a mistake that led to the death of Meg and Jude’s beautiful newborn child.
Jude and Meg spent the first few months both mourning the death of their child while battling a legal case with the hospital. Eventually, justice was served for their baby girl. However, now the couple was left with nothing but their grief and the loss of their young child. Managing this pain was not easy for either of them. Meg withdrew and Jude threw himself into work. Meg stopped working thanks to the sheer depression, and Jude found himself traveling more for work, thanks to a promotion. He was soon to take a work trip for work, a conference in New York City.
A Day in New York
The day of the conference arrived, and Jude left his wife to go to the airport. He spent the entire day at the meeting, which went exceptionally well. Jude was fatigued, so he called the airline and changed his trip so he could relax that night in his hotel room. He sat in his chamber, experiencing the customary anguish and regret of loosing his newborn child. He stood up and decided to go for a stroll before it got dark, thinking that it would help him overcome his feelings of loss, even if only for a little time.
Jude walked briskly down the street. He approached a corner and noticed a woman pushing a stroller while carrying far too many grocery bags. She was attempting to get the stroller up onto the sidewalk, her groceries falling out in the process. Jude had been a father, he immediately jogged over to assist the woman. He asked her if he could help her and a look of pure relief washed over her face as she accepted Jude’s help.
An Act of Kindness
Jude knelt down and lifted the front of the stroller onto the sidewalk. Then he stared at the tiny boy who lay inside and wished for his daughter. He stared a little too long at the infant within, prompting the mother to inquire about Jude’s children. He said, “I once did.” However, he had lost his daughter a few years before.
Jude walked with the woman to her door where he helped her to lift the stroller up the steps. He then grabbed a few of the shopping bags and put them on the kitchen table. The woman lifted her son out of the stroller and she thanked Jude for his help and kindness. This is when Jude noticed something incredible, he gasped while staring at the woman and her baby.
A Shocking Discovery
The woman was perplexed and asked Jude what the problem was. Jude could hardly talk. The mother set her baby down and filled a glass of water for Jude, who still hadn’t spoken. Jude gulped down the water and turned to the woman, eventually saying a few words..
He asked her where she had gotten the necklace around her baby’s neck. The woman replied saying that it had been given to her by her mother. Jude was flabbergasted. That very necklace was handmade, and he had buried his own child in it. How was it possible that this woman had the exact same necklace? Jude was too shocked to ask any more questions. He rushed out the door and ran back to his hotel. That night, Jude barely slept a wink, with so many questions running through his mind. The next morning he caught his flight home and burst through the door of his home to find his wife.
A Strange Thing
Jude told his wife about his experience with the woman. She was taken aback because she had been given that exact jewelry at the age of 18. She had been sent to live in an orphanage as a young girl, and the nuns had given her the pendant when she reached adulthood and left the children’s home. It had belonged to her mother. How could it be that this random woman in New York wore the same pendant?
Jude and Meg booked flights back to New York. In his confusion, he had not even gotten the name or number of the woman with the stroller, but he remembered where she lived. Two days later he and his wife stood at the door of this woman and knocked. The woman opened the door and smiled, although a bit confused. Jude asked if they could come inside.
Meg and Sammy exchanged names and got acquainted. Sammy asked them why they were there, and why Jude had left in such a hurry a few days earlier. Meg explained to her about the necklace. She asked to see it.
The Truth
Sammy went to get the necklace from the nursery, where her baby slept. She gave it to Meg and Jude. It was unquestionably an exact copy of the necklace she had previously possessed! Meg stared at Sammy, and the two hugged. Both of them understood what this meant; they had a connection.
Jude and Meg spent the next day speaking to a private investigator who very quickly found the jeweler who had made the pendant. The pair went off to the store where an old slender man examined the necklace. He looked at both women and told them he remembers making three pendants just like it. They were commissioned by a woman for her three young children, two girls, and a boy. This was the moment Meg and Sammy knew the truth. They were siblings. Their mother had fallen ill and they had been separated at a very young age, all sent to different places. Meg had ended up at the orphanage, while Sammy had ended up adopted. But there was one thing they had to figure out, where their brother had been sent.
Finding Their Brother
In the meantime, Meg and Sammy, who could not believe their fortune started spending time together. They eventually found their brother in a remote city on the other side of the country, and just in time. They found out that they would have lost him if they had just been a couple of days late because he had almost lost his will to live.
He had run away from his adoptive home as a child, and lived on the streets ever since. Meg and Sammy told Peter, their brother, that he no longer needed to live on the streets. He had his family back.
Making a Move
Seeing how happy finding her family had made her, Jude made the choice to move to New York with his wife. Soon she found herself pregnant with a baby boy. She and Jude had finally found happiness once more, all because Jude had chosen to be kind and help a stranger on the street that day.
