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A Mother’s Small Gift
As I ate, I caught bits of their conversation. The mother’s voice was soft, calm, and filled with love. Between bites of her hamburger, the little girl asked questions about the hospital they had just left. I learned, from their few exchanged words, that they’d come from a medical appointment and had only enough money left for the bus ride home.
The mother had spent what little she had not on herself, but to give her daughter a small moment of happiness — a meal at McDonald’s, something the little girl had wanted “just once.”
Watching them, I could see the pride in the mother’s eyes as her daughter took slow, careful bites of the hamburger, smiling as if it were the most delicious thing in the world. The mother didn’t eat a thing. She simply sat there, resting her tired hands on the table, her face both weary and radiant with love.
It wasn’t pity I felt as I watched them — it was deep admiration.