by A young mother traveling with her toddler son was shocked when a stranger on the train handed her a note about her parenting. Sammie Welch, a 23-year-old single mom, boarded a 6-hour train in 2018 with her 3-year-old son Rylan. To prevent her son from throwing tantrums that would disturb the other commuters, Sammie worked hard to keep him entertained.
The pair counted things outside the window, read books, painted, had sandwiches, played games and listened to music until her well-behaved child finally fell asleep. On arriving at the destination station, Sammie prepared to deboard. That’s when a man, she had not noticed before tapped on her shoulder and handed her a piece of paper saying she dropped it and disembarked.
There was a £5 ($6) note inside the paper along with a few words that said, “Have a drink on me. You are a credit to your generation, polite and teaching the little boy good manners.” On turning the paper, she found more heartfelt words. “P.S. I have a daughter your age. Someone did the same thing for her once. Hope when she has children, she is as good a mother as you. Have a lovely evening,” it continued according to BBC.
“When I looked at it and saw what was written I was so shocked. I feel really overwhelmed by it all, it was just so lovely to get it. Money is quite short for people nowadays so for someone to give me that was amazing, and I want to put it to good use,” she shared.
The message made Sammie feel very appreciative but before she could thank him, he had already gotten off the train. “I worry I’m not doing a good job with Rylan all the time — all the time. I worry, am I too hard on him? Am I too soft on him? I try so hard to get it right. So for someone to say I’m going a good job means everything,” she said according to Metro.
“I was shocked that someone I didn’t know and hadn’t even spoken to before had done this,” she added. Hoping to find him, she posted on Facebook and even contacted the local newspaper. “I don’t think he realized the impact of what he did. How it made me feel. I just wanted to thank him. That was all…He shows there are still good people out there and I want him to know I am truly grateful,” she said.
