What stranger will you never forget?

I was at an airport in Spain, waiting for a flight to Italy (I am originally from Brazil). I was 16 years old and my mother was with me.

A middle-aged woman was talking on the phone a few seats away from where we were. I knew she was from my country because of the language she was speaking and her accent. She seemed upset and I was curious, so I overhear a bit of her conversation and discovered that she lived in Spain, and was going back to our country because her father was in the hospital, very ill, and could go at any moment. She mentioned that she was hoping to get back in time to say goodbye to him.

Two years prior, I lost my father to a car accident. I had to take an 11-hour flight to get to his funeral, because I was in Europe and he was in Brazil when the accident happened. I felt so bad for the woman because I had a pretty good idea how hard the flight would be for her.

I wrote her a note, basically telling her that love outlives grief, everything would be okay, and that I was hoping she'd make it back in time to say goodbye, even though I didn't get to say goodbye to my father (he didn't last 5 minutes after his accident) .

I went up to her, explained that I overheard her conversation and wanted to give her a note. My hands were shaking so much, and I was trying so hard not to cry. After I gave it to her, I ran to a restroom, got in a stall and proceeded to cry my eyes out.

When I went back to the gate, about 30 minutes later, I learned that the woman had approached my mother, because she had seen that we were together, and she told my mother that I was an angel, who made her feel so much better about the whole situation.

The woman had already boarded the plane when I got back, and I never saw her again. Even though I didn't get her name or anything like that, I'll never forget her, and how grateful I was for being able to help her in that way. Years later I still wonder if she made it back in time...

/r/AskReddit Thread