Desperate woman fleeing 'abusive husband' couldn't afford food for son—restaurant owner's hand sign left her ugly crying
Making it through the stormy challenges of life, like dealing with abuse, requires strength and resilience like no other. It also requires support to embark on a better, new beginning. A woman who goes by u/DKFran7 shared on Reddit how she found support through a stranger’s kindness. Having dealt with abuse from her husband, she and her 2-year-old were leaving him. The day she decided to flee was a difficult one. She had not much to take with her and no food to give to her child. To her luck, she chanced upon a restaurant owner and his wife who had a heart of gold.
Sharing the heartbreaking memory, the woman recalled that she was only 23 years old at the time she decided to leave with her son. “We left without much money in my pocket,” she wrote. Traveling from North Carolina to Oregon, she didn’t have much on her. “We stopped for a couple of hours in Grand Junction, Colorado, at a tiny station with a tiny diner at night,” the mom wrote. When she arrived to get a meal for herself and her son, she realized she didn’t have enough. “I didn't have my glasses (husband had destroyed them), so that meant going far into the restaurant to see the menu. I figured out what it said, counted what I had and told my son I couldn't afford it,” she mentioned.
All she could afford was a few crackers from the vending machine. The mom was prepared to deal with this hunger and unprecedented journey, feeling a little helpless inside, until a miracle arrived. “Halfway toward the outer door, the owner's wife stopped me. I didn't speak Spanish and she didn't speak English,” the woman recalled. Despite not being able to communicate verbally, the woman used hand signs to gesture something special to the mom. “Everyone knows the hand sign for ‘Come with me,’” the 23-year-old said, adding that the owner’s wife asked her to follow her to a table. "Her husband then set burgers and water in front of us,” she recalled.
The mom felt frantic at that point as she couldn’t afford what was being offered and worried about how upsetting this might look. She kept trying to explain to the couple that she couldn’t pay for the meal. “He patted my shoulder. ‘It's good. You eat.’ He gestured to my son, me, and the burgers. ‘You eat,” the mom remarked. Somewhere between the pain, lack of words, helplessness and worry the mom faced, the owners were able to see the mom and offer their support. They didn’t need to speak the same language to share their kindness and the mom didn’t need words to understand and accept it. A warm meal and a helping hand were enough for the woman to hold onto for life.
“Of course, I cried. His wife also patted my shoulder and gave us a bunch of napkins. We ate what we could; the owner boxed the rest so we could take it with us. One of the kindest memories I have of the whole terrifying four-day trip,” she wrote. She mentioned that though 45 years had passed since the incident, she was still grateful and cherished the memory even in the present time. u/NoYesterday5310 said, “It’s funny how people who don’t speak the same language can sense your desperation. God put them in your path for a reason.” u/McMema added, "I'm so proud of you and still grateful for the kindness of strangers.”
If you are being subjected to domestic abuse or know of anyone else who is, please visit The National Domestic Violence Hotline website or call 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.
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