I was walking in a store.

I saw a cashier hand this kid his money saying “I’m sorry, but you don’t have enough money to buy this doll.”

Then the boy turned to the old woman next to him: “Grandma, are you sure I don’t have enough money?”

The old lady replied, “You know you don’t have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.”

She then asked him to stay there for 5 minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly.

The little boy still held the doll in his hand.

Finally, I walked up to him and asked who he wanted to give this doll to.

“It is the doll that my sister loved the most and wanted so much for this Christmas. She was so sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her.”

I told him that maybe Santa will bring it to him after all, and not to worry.

But he replied sadly. “No, Santa Claus can’t take her where she is right now. I have to give the doll to my mom so she can give it to my sister when she goes there.”

His eyes were very sad as he said this. “My sister has gone to be with God. Dad says that mom is also going to see God very soon, so I thought she could take her doll to give to my sister.”

My heart almost stopped.

The boy looked at me and said, “I told dad to tell mom not to go yet. I need her to wait until she gets back from the mall.”

Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. Then she told me “I want mommy to take a picture with her so she doesn’t forget me.”

“I love my mommy and I hope she doesn’t have to leave me, but daddy says she has to go to be with my little sister.”

Then she looked at the doll again with sad eyes, very quietly.

I quickly reached for my wallet and told the boy. “What if we check again, in case you have enough money?” “Okay,” he said, “I hope I have enough.” I added some of my money to his without seeing him and we started counting it. There was enough for the doll and even some extra money.

The boy said, “Thank you God for giving me enough money!”

Then she looked at me and added, “Yesterday before I went to sleep I asked God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll for Mommy to give to my sister. She heard me!”

“I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mom, but I didn’t dare ask God for much. But he gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.”

“My mommy loves white roses.”

A few minutes later, the old lady came back and I left with my basket.

I finished my purchases in a totally different state than when I started. I couldn’t get the boy out of my mind.

Then I remembered a local newspaper article 2 days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car, where there was a young woman and a girl.

The little girl died immediately and the mother was left in critical condition. The family had to decide whether to turn off the life support machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from her coma.

Was this the boy’s family?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the young woman had passed away.

I couldn’t help myself when I bought a bouquet of white roses and went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and ask for their last wishes before burial.

She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the child and the doll placed on her chest. I left the place with teary eyes, feeling that my life had changed forever. The love that this little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a split second, a drunk driver had taken all of that away.

“Always tell the people you love, that you love them, before it’s too late”