The Simple Act 1 Southwest Flight Attendant Did For a Grieving Mom Will Warm Your Heart
When Tricia Belster boarded a Southwest flight in mid-August, she was wracked with grief because she was on her way to bury her adult son who had just passed away. She wrote on the Love What Matters Facebook page that she was understandably not looking or feeling good at all. One of the flight attendants on board asked her if she was OK, but his kindness didn't stop there.
As she was leaving the plane, Tricia said the same flight attendant handed her a note and said he was sorry for her loss. It wasn't until a few minutes later when she read the note that she realized what a thoughtful thing he'd done. The note told of a time when his family lost his older brother and he recalls the grief his own mom went through and his words of encouragement for Tricia's future.
"Firstly, being a mother is about giving birth to new life as a promise to the future. Your mission doesn't end now — your son's life is bigger than his death and always will be. My mom struggled desperately chasing a faraway goal of somehow lessening the pain. As she has realized now, the pain hardly lessens. Don't expend your energy trying to chase this. Instead, go all out finding opportunities to experience joy. Visit family, get closer to those you've lost touch with, travel. This is your story and you owe it to yourself and your son to make sure that you survive this. Do not pressure yourself!"
He went on to tell her that he won't stop thinking about her in the future, and he'll be rooting for her the whole time. Tricia wrote on Facebook that she not only wanted to share this note to demonstrate how kind humans can be but to hopefully make sure that the flight attendant knows how much she appreciates what he did. "Thank you so much for your kind words from a person that took the time to write this not even knowing me," she wrote, and we sincerely hope her message makes it back to him.