**For more #FeelGood stories, check out my blog page.**
Thistleton Lodge is a dementia and elder care facility in the United Kingdom, and recently, one of the staff members there did something for one of their residents that will have you saying, 'It's really dusty in here" or ... "I'm not crying, YOU'RE crying!'
Ken Benbow is 94 years old. In 1940, at 14, he saw injured soldiers returning home from the Dunkirk evacuation at his local train station, and it inspired him to join the Royal Navy. But when he tried to enlist, he was told he was too young and would have to wait. So, in 1943, the day he turned 17, he went back and enlisted.
His ship was first assigned to protect the Atlantic convoys from the U.S. bringing supplies to England. He was sent to Sicily, Italy to cover the invasion there by U.S. and British troops. He was at Normandy on D-Day..
When he left the Navy in 1946, he first headed to Liverpool where he worked as in sales with an agricultural supply company. That is where he met a girl named Ada at a dance hall where she was spending time with her friends.
Ken says he can still remember exactly where she was standing when he saw her across the room. It was love at first sight, and the two spent the next two months dancing the nights away together, until he decided it was time to pop the question in the same dance hall where they met.
The two married in 1945 and were married for more than 73 years, until Ada's death last August at the age of 93.
The two had lived at Thistleton Lodge together, enjoying their golden years. The staff says the couple were always so sweet and loving toward each other and to everyone else. After Ada died, they were heartbroken for Ken, but did what they could to keep him in good spirits.
One caregiver in particular, 17-year-old Kia Tobin, cares for Ken regularly and she noticed that every night, Ken placed a framed photo of his wife in bed with him, so that every morning when he woke up, she was the first face he would see.
Worried that Ken might cut himself if the frame cracked or broke, Kia decided to do something amazingly sweet. She had a pillow made that had Ada's photo on it, so that Ken could cuddle with it every night without any fear of being cut if the glass frame broke.
On Saturday, she brought the pillow to Ken, and the sweet moment was caught on video and has since become an internet sensation. Ken and Kia have appeared on several local shows to talk about the gift and the love that lasted for more than 73 years. Ken says his wife Ada was, "the most caring, beautiful wife anyone could ever wish to have," and says the gift from Kia is "the most precious thing anyone could ever wish for."
You can see the moment below....and I guarantee you....it will bring tears to your eyes. In a good way.