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SALT LAKE CITY — We all know that Mondays are a struggle, so it's nice to get a boost before the day turns to gray.
Here are three stories of exceptional kindness that may brighten this wintry day.
When the kids were hungry
Margie M.
"In the summer of 2014, I went to Las Vegas to be with my daughter and her family while she gave birth to her third child. My granddaughters and I determined to have a pizza party together to celebrate the baby's first night at home. The temperature registered 110 as I put the girls in the car to pick up some 'hot and ready' pizza. We walked in the pizza place, and it was crowded and hot. When placing my order, I was told it would be a 30-minute wait.
"I felt like it would be too hard for a 2- and 4-year-old to wait that long, so we turned around and left. The girls were devastated to leave, so we went back in to wait. In just a couple of minutes of our return, an order was called for another women who had been waiting. She walked up to me and gave me her order. She told me that she remembered what it was like to have hungry little ones and that she could wait easier than they could."
After surgery
Joel B.
"Last April, without warning, I had three lumbar discs rupture my L4, L5 disc compressed the nerves in my spinal canal. Before surgery, I was completely paralyzed from the waist down. After surgery, I was still paralyzed below the knee with a loss of sensation and motor control.
"Shortly after being released from the hospital, some 40 people showed up to help move my family to a wheelchair accessible home. My brother, without talking to me, started a donation drive to raise money to get my family a van to better fit our new needs.
"I have a new, very quiet, neighbor who brings in our emptied trash every week and has dropped everything he was doing multiple times to help my wife bring a box or piece of furniture too big for one person to carry. I have been very humbled by all the people around me who are willing to help at a moment's notice."
During a difficult year
Kasey C.
"We've had quite the year. Our daughter was born in July with a congenital heart defect requiring two open heart surgeries within a few months of birth. My husband found out he had a tumor (benign) on the balance nerve of his ear that needed to come out within weeks of our daughter's second open heart surgery.
"Our sweet neighbors, Joe and Kathy, found out about our struggles and offered to help. Joe mowed our lawn and took our trash cans to the curb every week for most of the summer. Kathy harvested most of our garden and brought over quarts of ... beans and pickled beets and frozen green beans and peppers that would have otherwise gone to waste.
"They've brought meals, had us over for dinner and even watched our kids while I needed to run a quick errand. They are some of the sweetest people I've ever met and we will be forever grateful for their kindness."
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