The kindness of strangers

Almost every day, I buy my lunch at the cafe in the dormitory across the street from my office. The man who runs it is one of those friendly, smiley people who will always say hello if he recognizes you. Last year when I was pregnant with Joseph, he always had a kind word for me - he'd ask me how I was feeling, or ask when I was due, or something nice like that.

When I returned to work after being out for a month after Joseph was born, I ran into this man while getting lunch during my first week back. Of course he wanted to know how the baby was...so I had to tell him. (I didn't get into it, I just said, "He was born May 26, but we lost him.") You could tell that he felt terrible; he told me that he was one of six children, and that he was born after his parents lost their first child at birth.

Today it's actually getting pretty warm here, so I didn't wear my coat when I went over to get lunch. The coat does a pretty good job of hiding the bump, but without it, you can see how big I'm really getting. So when I went to pay for my lunch, this same man was working the register, and he noticed how pregnant I was. And his face just lit up.

"Congratulations!" he said, and when I thanked him, he said softly, "I'm praying for you. Take it easy - I hope everything goes well."

I don't even know this man's name. He doesn't know mine. Knowing that someone who doesn't even know me is thinking about what happened and wishing me the best...that's a good feeling.