'Air Force mom' pays for stranger’s McDonald’s drive-thru meal — her note leaves woman choking up
A kind gesture might bring a lot of joy to the giver in many scenarios. One mom found herself in such a situation after she decided to pay for a woman's breakfast at a McDonald's drive-thru. The mom, Caryn Hill, had been missing her son, Ronnie, who was in the Air Force. As she couldn't pay for his breakfast, she decided to pay for the person behind her in line. She also left a special message for the person, Heidi Goforth, per a now-deleted Facebook post, according to Yahoo Lifestyle.
The incident happened back in August 2019 after Hill had finished a 13-hour midnight shift at the Hermitage, Tenn., hospital. "When you work the midnight shift, you have a lot of time to think about things and I spent a lot of time thinking about my son," Hill told the outlet. The mom was about to meet her son 17 days after the incident. They had been away from each other for five weeks at that time. "I was really missing him that morning, so I wanted to buy their meal and let them know that I kinda wished I could buy a meal for my son. Since I couldn’t buy him a meal, I was going to do it for someone else."
Hill told the employee that she wanted to pay the next person's bill and write a note for them. The note scribbled on the bill read, "My son is in the Air Force. I can’t buy him breakfast, so I bought yours. Have a blessed day." Coincidentally, Goforth, who had been standing behind Hill, was at the drive-thru to buy a meal for her son. So she was really touched by Hill's gesture when she read the note written on the bill. She decided to share the kind act online through Facebook. "I was buying breakfast for my son at McDonald's and the sweet lady in front of me in the drive-thru paid for my meal," Goforth expressed.
"I pray that you see your son soon! He's lucky to have a mom who loves him so much! God bless you and him! Tell him thank you for his service," Goforth went on. Hill also got a chance to see the post and it made her really emotional. "My husband texted me the news clip while I was working the night shift. I cried like a baby when I read the comments from you and others! Not an hour goes by that we don't think of our son. He is going to laugh when he reads this," Hill revealed. "It was really touching. Here I thought I was doing something to brighten someone else’s day and it came back tenfold to see that so many people were thinking about my son and were appreciative of other military people out there."
The two women got in touch with each other and were really pleased to find an unexpected connection between them. Both of their sons had attended the same school and knew each other. Hill was also glad that she could make someone happy through a small gesture. She hoped that her example would inspire other people to make such small, kind gestures for other people. "The smallest thing you can do, a smile, buying a cup of coffee or a meal, can really touch someone’s life."