Sometimes it’s the little things that have the most profound effect on us.
Acts of kindness and thoughtfulness of others that in the grand scheme of things are barely noticeable, but at the right time, they can turn a bad time into a bearable time.
Courtney Lacy of Wheaton, Illinois, recently experienced this firsthand. A thoughtful gesture from a complete stranger brightened her day.
Lacy calls the woman “a beautiful human” and over this Thanksgiving, she reached out to thank her for her act of kindness.
John Lacy, Courtney’s husband, came down with Covid-19 in the spring.
Courtney shares her story in an interview with WGN9.
“My husband, who’s 37, healthy, and yet… in the first wave, he got it. Got Covid and it just wiped him out” she said.
She explained that he had started to feel unwell, but within just a few days he was at the point where he could barely breathe. So a day before his daughter’s first birthday and a few days before his wife’s, he was admitted to the hospital.
As I’m sure you can imagine, with her husband in the hospital, sick with a potentially life-threatening virus, she probably wasn’t in much of a party spirit. She remembers,
“I was exhausted. I was like it does not feel like my birthday or her birthday, we were just so tired.”
In all the midst of this, a delivery arrived. And Courtney’s first thought was that the package was from her husband. Which was confusing because how could he have managed such a thing when he was so sick and had just been admitted to the hospital.
But she soon realizes who the delivery is from.
Along with a “Happy Birthday” balloon and box full of sweet treats, there was a card. It read,
“Happy Birthday to you and your daughter, wishing you a wonderful day despite these difficult times, enjoy. Paula.”
And who is Paula?
Paula works in the emergency room at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, where John Lacy had been admitted. She had called his wife to get some necessary paperwork. It was during the course of this conversation that Paula learned the circumstances.
Courtney explains,
“So of course I gave her all the information, but when she asked how I’m doing, I was just like, ‘well, my husband has COVID, and it’s my daughter and my birthday this weekend,’ It was one of those moments where you break down.”
Courtney was incredibly impressed by Paula’s thoughtfulness and kindness.
A lot of people would have simply expressed their sympathy for what you were going through and hung up. After all, Courtney was no one to Paula, and an expression of regret would have been sufficient in the situation.
But Paula’s willingness to go above and beyond meant a lot to Courtney, and she wanted to express her gratitude. Which she did in an on-camera message.
“Your beautiful spirit really, truly brightened my day. That horrible day, that I felt really hopeless. I am so thankful that you brought so much joy into my life with this sweet, unexpected gesture.”
Courtney realizes how outstanding this gesture was. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, we have been hearing about how overworked workers in healthcare are. And yet despite this, Paula made the time to reach out and do something incredibly thoughtful for a stranger going through a scary time.
“You know she’s going through so much day in, day out. Seeing so much sickness, so much sadness, yet she was just a light, she was a light to me that day and that’s exactly what I needed,” Courtney Lacy said.
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