A young woman’s impulse to help a grieving little girl ended up turning her life around and bringing her happiness.
How many of us can claim that destiny came knocking on our door? Yet that is what happened to Anna Uriel. In Anna’s case, destiny took the shape of a little girl with big brown eyes, her hair in a braid.
Anna answered the doorbell and found herself staring down at a little girl no more than six years old in a pretty gingham dress. “Hi sweetheart,” she said gently. “I think you have the wrong house.”
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The girl shook her head. “No, this is my mommy’s house. Please can you call her?”
“I’m sorry, hun,” Anna said. “I’m the only person who lives here.”
The child started crying. “Please, please! I need my mommy!”
“Hun, where is you daddy?” asked Anna.
“He’s at home. He says mommy’s gone forever, but I know it isn’t true. She’s here!” the girl sobbed.
Anna crouched down and looked the little girl in the eye. “Sweetie, I promise you your mommy’s not here. How about I give you some warm milk and cookies and I take you home to your daddy?”
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The girl looked up at Anna sadly. “Okay,” she whispered.
Anna turned to lead the girl into the house, but when she looked around again she was gone. Had it all been a dream? Anna walked next door and knocked on Mrs. Freman’s door.
She told Mrs. Freman about the mysterious little girl. “She vanished so quickly I almost felt it had all been a dream!” Anna concluded.
Mrs. Freman poured Anna some tea. “Your house used to belong to a little family. They had a little girl. Nice people. But the mother became very ill and after she passed away her husband sold the house. That must be the child.”
“Poor thing!” Anna sighed. “To lose her mother so young!”
“I can’t remember their name…” Mrs. Freman said. “It’s my memory…But the little girl… Her name was Cassie!”
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“Cassie,” Anna said. “If she comes back, I’ll call the police, take her home. She’s much too young to be wandering the streets alone.” But Cassie didn’t come back and Anna’s life continued as planned.
Anna had always believed in making plans. She’d planned to marry at 25 and to become a mother at 28, but for four years she and her husband had tried to conceive, and still there was no baby.
After a lot of painful treatments, Anna became pregnant, but sadly, she lost her baby when he was only a month old. The doctors told her her chances of having another were slim to none.
Her husband told her quite frankly that being childless was not in his plans, and he didn’t want to adopt. He walked out and left Anna devastated and alone with her shattered dreams.
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So Anna could understand Cassie’s pain, the empty place in her life and in her arms where her baby should be. Anna knew how hard it is to let go. She hoped Cassie would come back, but months went by without a visit.
Then one winter evening, there was a knock on her door. There in the doorway stood Cassie huddled in a winter coat, tears freezing on her little cheeks. “Please, lady, I really need my mommy. Daddy’s on the floor and I can’t wake him up. Please, please call my mommy!”
Anna was horrified. She grabbed her coat and her purse. “Honey, Cassie, right? Can you show me where your daddy is?”
Destiny can bring happiness to our door when we least expect it.
The child smiled radially up at Anna. “I knew you’d remember me, mommy! Come!” and she tugged urgently on Anna’s hand and led her to an apartment building three blocks away.
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Anna found the front door open, and lying in the middle of a squalid room was an unconscious man. She tried to shake him awake. He stank of alcohol! She dragged him off the floor and onto the couch and walked into the kitchen. It was a disgrace.
Anna set a pot of coffee brewing and started to clean up. Cassie followed her. “Mommy, are you going to make cookies? I’ve missed your cookies!”
“Cassie, I’m not your mommy, but I’ll make you some cookies,” Anna told the little girl. Over the next hour, Anna restored some much-needed order to the apartment and popped a tray of cookies into the oven.
Soon the delicious aroma of cookies and coffee filled the house. Anna filled a mug with coffee and went back to the man. She shook him. “Wake up!” she ordered, “Your daughter needs you!”
The man opened swollen eyes and for a moment his face reflected a dawning hope. “Bess?” he whispered.
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“I’m Anna, and your daughter came knocking on my door looking for her mother.” Anna’s voice was harsh. “She needs her father, so sober up and pull yourself together!”
The man struggled up off the couch. “I don’t need you or your help! Get out”
“I’m not here for you, you fool. I’m here for Cassie.” Anna snapped. “And remember, while you were here wallowing in self-pity she was knocking on a stranger’s door.”
Anna kissed Cassie goodbye and walked out. She never imagined she’d see Cassie or her awful dad ever again, but a week later, there was a knock on her door. A tall handsome man was standing there.
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“Hi,” he said nervously. “I wanted to thank you and to apologize…”
“I’m sorry,” Anna said bewildered. “Who are you?”
The man blushed. “I’m Jeffrey, Cassie’s dad. I wanted to thank you for what you did for Cassie — and for me. I was so lost in my grief I didn’t realize what Cassie was going through.”
Anna smiled. “It’s okay, I know how hard it is to pull through those dark days.”
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Jeffrey looked into Anna’s sad eyes. “You lost someone too?”
“My son,” Anna whispered, tears in her eyes. “After he died, my husband left…”
From then on, Anna started visiting Cassie and Jeffrey and the three of them helped each other through their grief. One day, Anna and Jeffrey discovered they were in love — Cassie already knew — and they got married.
Two years later, Anna was blessed by an unexpected miracle. She discovered she was pregnant and she and Jeffrey welcomed a beautiful, healthy baby boy. Cassie became the proudest big sister in the world.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
What can we learn from this story?
- Destiny can bring happiness to our door when we least expect it. Anna was sad and lonely until Cassie knocked on her door looking for her mother.
- Sometimes a wake-up call can turn a life around. Anna’s visit showed Jeffrey he had to stop grieving and focus on his daughter.
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a young widower who refused to allow his dead wife’s family to have contact with her daughter.
Stewardess Breaks the Rules to Talk Some Sense into Raging Son of a Millionaire during a Flight – Story of the Day
Monica was tired of the spoiled rich boy who always flew with their airline. He was loud, rude, and didn’t care about the other passengers on the plane. But she got an idea one day and decided to trick him. Surprisingly, someone else also spoke up, and Monica did not have to worry again.
“LET’S GET WILD!” yelled Gerald Ross, the son of a real estate millionaire in New York and one of the most spoiled people Monica had ever met. She was a flight attendant from JFK to Miami, and everyone was tired of his antics.
Gerald held a champagne bottle and made his friends drink from it. They got even louder as a result, and no one could quiet them down. She would’ve understood if they were on a private plane, but Gerald and his friends always used this airline because his rich daddy was close friends with the owner. They had some deal.
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“Ugh, rich people,” Monica whispered to her co-worker, Julian, who rolled his eyes at the rowdy group of friends too. Although they were all in first class, they disturbed other passengers, and people were constantly telling them to shut up. But there was nothing they could do. Gerald wouldn’t listen and insulted them to boot.
This was not what Monica imagined when she decided to become a stewardess. Her father was a pilot who sadly passed away in a plane crash, but that didn’t deter her from her pursuit of the sky. She loved it and wanted to become a pilot. However, her mother couldn’t afford lessons, and flight attendant studies were much cheaper.
She was now paying for her own lessons, but it was a slow process. Soon, she would be a pilot too, and hopefully, she wouldn’t have to deal with young men like Gerald ever again.
“Hey, you! Yeah, I’m talking to you, steward!” Gerald called her attention, making the word stewardess sound like an insult. Monica had to fake a smile before approaching him. “Bring me another bottle NOW!”
“Mr. Ross, could you please quiet down a bit. There are other passengers on the plane,” she said, trying to calm the group down.
“Hey! Don’t you know who I am? I could get you fired like this!” the young man said, snapping his fingers to indicate that she could quickly lose her job. “GET THE BOTTLE NOW! AND SOME PEANUTS FOR EVERYONE TOO!”
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There was no use. Her colleagues looked bone-tired, even though the plane had barely taken off. They had a few more hours of this situation in store, and Monica couldn’t take it anymore. Instead of looking for the bottle, she entered the cockpit and took a seat behind Vince, the primary pilot who happened to be her boyfriend.
“Hey, are you ok?” Vince asked while checking dials and keeping everything in place.
Monica breathed a huge sigh. “Gerald Ross is here, and it’s barely been an hour since we took off. I can’t take it anymore,” she told him, wiping a hand on her forehead.
“I’m sure you can do something to keep them quiet,” Vince replied.
“Can you talk to him?”
“You know I can’t go out there. It would be a breach in protocol.”
“Hmmm, breach in protocol. Maybe, I could lie and spook him,” Monica said, placing a finger on her chin and thinking deeply. Just then, the sounds of more screams came from the first-class area, and she was forced to stand up. “Ugh…”
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“You can do this, Monica. I believe in you,” Vince said, turning around and smiling at her. He loved her deeply. In fact, he had proposed to her last night, but Monica had so many dreams she wanted to accomplish before getting married. She had asked him for some time to think. At that moment, she wanted to say yes and quit this job forever.
But Monica would not let a spoiled daddy’s boy derail her career. That’s when she had a brilliant idea and marched outside back to the first class.
“Everyone, can I please have your attention?” she began, smiling fakely. “Due to some extenuating circumstances, I’m going to have to fly the plane, but I can’t do it because our colleagues are so busy with Mr. Ross and his friends. So, the plane is on autopilot for now with no one operating it.”
She didn’t know if her idea would work or if Gerald would be scared of it. She was going to have to lie through her teeth to convince everyone that there was no other option, and she needed that rowdy group to stop so she could concentrate on “flying” this plane.
Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise, and even Gerald’s group got quiet.
“Excuse me, what did you say?” a passenger questioned, almost angrily.
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“Where’s the pilot? I saw him go inside!” another flyer called out.
“What about the co-pilot?” another person wondered with worried eyes.
“Our co-pilot had an emergency, but the flight still continued because they had me aboard, and I’m almost done training for my pilot’s license. Now that our pilot is also experiencing some trouble, it’s up to me to fly this plane. But I really can’t do it if I have to worry about a loud, disruptive group in the cabin,” Monica continued, trying to remain vague to avoid raising any more suspicions from the passengers.
Finally, an older man in an expensive Armani suit, Mr. George Carter, stood up. “See, Ross? This is the kind of disaster you and your group have caused. We’re a flying machine, and you think we’re in some kind of club. I’m going to have a serious talk with your father when we reach Miami!” Mr. Carter exclaimed at the young man. “Now, sit down like a normal person, shut up, and let this lady fly the plane!”
Mr. Carter sat back down, and Ross’s group looked away in shame. The other passengers all nodded their heads, and one even thanked the older man. Monica smiled in delight as the spoiled boy looked at his lap in shame.
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“Thank you for your understanding, everyone. I’ll return to the cockpit, and don’t worry, I have aced all my pilot lessons,” Monica said and returned to the cockpit, where she had to stay the rest of the flight to keep up the ruse.
Luckily, Gerald and his friends did not make a peep for the rest of the flight, and they reached their destination without another hiccup. After landing, she explained to her colleagues why she lied, and they all thanked her deeply.
Several days later, Monica and Julian worked another route, and he had some gossip for her. “You know how Mr. Carter threatened to call Gerald’s dad? Well, he actually did it. He also talked to the owner of the airline, and as a punishment, he has been banned from flying with us,” her co-worker revealed.
“That’s fantastic,” Monica laughed as she got everything ready for the passengers’ in-flight meal. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? Vince and I got officially engaged that day. I guess watching that man scold Gerald made me super happy, and I decided to accept his proposal!”
“Congratulations!”
What can we learn from this story?
- Don’t be rude to people in the service industry. You must respect people in the service industry no matter who your father is or how much money you have. It’s common decency.
- A little white lie can serve a purpose sometimes. Monica lied a bit to the passengers, and they finally got fed up with the rich kid’s behavior.
Share this story with your friends. It might brighten their day and inspire them.
If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about an older woman who was mocked on a plane.
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