Recently I was thanking someone for being kind to my daughter. I appreciated what a positive influence this person and her family had been in my daughter’s life. This particular person shrugged it off and made the comment that she really hadn’t done much. I don’t think that this person realized that she had done so much by just being decent to my daughter. So many times she had greeted her with a smile and acted genuinely interested in her life.

Our family has recently made drastic changes in our lives to get my daughter out of a bad situation where she was being bullied. Adults involved in the situation were unwilling to step in and help and the situation just kept getting worse. We were losing our daughter and we felt we had to make drastic changes to save all of our kids.

Since making these life changes I have been so grateful to so many people that have showed our family kindness. They have loved us and treated us with kindness without knowing details of the situation. I have felt overwhelmed with gratitude for so many that have treated my family with kindness and respect. After years of seeing my very social daughter pull back and avoid so many activities it is a relief to see her outgoing personality come back. Watching her walk into a room with confidence and to be the one watching out for others makes me teary-eyed with relief that as her parents we have made the right decision.

I am grateful for good people with kind hearts who have been the miracle that my family desperately needed. I hope that from this painful lesson I will be more aware of hurting hearts and the good I can do through small and simple acts of kindness.