Read a Stranger's Kindness and Heartbreaking Note for a Grieving Mother

There are times in all our lives in which we face challenges unlike anything we've ever known before. And it's those times that truly test our souls, and show us what we're made of. 

One woman flying home on a Southwest flight to bury her son was facing such a challenge. Tricia Belstra was on her way to bury her son on August 18th, when she wasn't feeling well on her flight. 

“I sat in my seat between two strangers holding a barf bag down low between my legs,” she wrote in an emotional Facebook post.

“Then this young man came by; I wish I would have gotten his name. He was getting drink requests. I asked for a diet coke and another glass of water. He leaned in and asked if I was okay. I told him I was flying back to bury my son. He said he was so sorry and brought me a can of water, a glass of ice and my diet coke.”

However, it seemed the flight attendant couldn't get Belstra and her pain out of her mind. When the plane landed, the unidentified crew member was waiting for her with a note in his hand. 

“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. I said thank you and walked out.”

When Belstra read the note (which she also shared on Facebook), she was overwhelmed by the support and emotional advice written by the flight attendant who watched his own mother bury his brother. 

While the note on the napkin may not seem like much, Belstra said it meant the world to her. She shared on it on Facebook intending to thank the person who took the time to write such a wonderful note. 

The note has been shared over 6,000 times and 'liked' more than 25,000 times since it went viral on Facebook. 

Here's what the gentleman wrote in his note if you're having trouble seeing it:

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 all 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 somehow 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 you survive this. Do not pressure yourself!

The 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.  

Good does exist in the world. Even if it doesn't always feel like it. 


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