A Random Act of Kindness
A random act of kindness at our Pizza Hut store in Lufkin, Texas, helped restore one couple’s faith after an incredibly difficult year.
Just one year ago, pregnant with the couple’s third child, Ashley Rush raced to the hospital, with the gut instinct that something wasn’t right.
“I said there’s something wrong, I don’t feel him kick. And they said well it’s too early, that’s normal,” said Ashley Elliot-Rush.
But it wasn’t normal. And with her husband Aaron nearly 10 hours away at work, she had to receive the news without him.
“The umbilical cord right at his belly-button didn’t grow with the rest of the umbilical cord so he wasn’t able to get the nutrients that he needed to survive,” said Aaron Elliot-Rush.
Baby Liam didn’t make it and was delivered September 25, 2014.
“I was mad at myself, I was mad at everybody who said ‘Oh it happens for a reason, you’ll find out that reason.’ Well, I’m not finding it out yet,” Rush said.
That was until five weeks ago, when the two welcomed little Addilynn.
Last Friday was the one year anniversary of Baby Liam’s death, but instead of sadness, it was a day celebrated with Rush’s favorite pregnancy food.
“Pizza; any kind of pizza,” Rush said.
And it was a typical meal, at a Lufkin Pizza Hut, when the unthinkable happened.
“The waitress comes up and she’s like I don’t know if this is going to make you cry, make you happy, make you laugh, but that gentleman that was sitting across from you said that he felt in his heart that he needed to pay for your meal,” Rush said.
A kindhearted stranger who had no way of knowing the reason behind the Rush’s meal that day; a gesture they feel came from baby Liam.
“I’d like to think so; I’d really like to think it did. ‘Why?’ To give me some hope,” Rush said. “To have somebody pay for our meal on the birthday that we were celebrating for him was kind of like ‘Hey mom, I’m going to buy my own meal today.”
And as for the mystery guy?
“I’m glad that he followed his heart that day and it definitely helped us with our faith,” Rush said.
The Rush family says moving forward, they definitely plan to pay it forward. They want their kindhearted stranger to know their goal isn’t to embarrass him; they simply want to say thank you.
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I got tears in my eyes its always nice to hear when people do nice things for eachother more of that needs to go on in life then maybe there wouldnt be much angry people in this world