When Danny Wakefield left home one recent morning, the Seattle native had no idea that a simple act of kindness would not only change the life of a stranger, but also his own.
The night before, Danny hit it off with somebody special and decided to leave a sunflower on his crush’s car on his way to work. But at the last minute, Danny got the jitters. He had only been on one date with his love interest and realized the move would have been too much. So, not wanting the flower to go to waste, he decided to gift it to someone else instead.
At the time, Danny was sitting in his local coffee shop. Nearby was a woman reading and silently crying. And like a magnet, something pulled Danny toward her. He knew she was the one who needed his sunflower, but he just didn’t know why.
Scroll down to read Danny’s beautiful story. You never know what a stranger needs and how an act of kindness will affect them.
“Last night I bought a sunflower to put on the windshield of someone I’m smitten with. After some consideration I decided not to since we had only been on one date, the night previous. Don’t want to come off too strong, right? Anyway, I grabbed the flower on my way out this morning with the intention to give it to someone on my way to work so it didn’t die alone. What happened next has left me changed in ways I don’t even have words for yet.”
“While I was sitting and drinking my morning joe at the coffee shop (which I typically take to go), I saw a woman reading something with tears quietly and quickly sliding down her pale face. It was like there was a magnet in the sunflower that was being drawn to her, because I knew in that moment she was who I was going to give the sunflower to; she was who I had to give it to.
When I got to her table I said, ‘hey, pardon me. I have this sunflower that I was hoping to give to someone special and that someone I had in mind didn’t work out, but I can feel that you’re special too, so I want you to have it.’
Before I could even hand her the sunflower, this complete stranger flew into my arms with tears flowing, and gratitude spewing, as if I was someone she once loved, and lost. It’s what she said next that I’m still trying to grip.”
“She was crying because her fiancé had died the week before, just months before they were going to get married. On their first date he brought her a sunflower and from then on, got her sunflowers, never roses, because she was the light of his life.
Today, through me, he was able to show her that she’ll always be the light of his life and how we as humans have a message to carry that goes far beyond words.”
“I’m shaken, awaken and feeling raw. You never know how much a simple gesture of giving someone a $5 flower will change their life, as well as yours. Life is about giving and being of service to others. I challenge you all to find a way to make someone else’s life just a little bit brighter today and be of service. You never know the impact you could have.
Please feel free to share this, and a little extra love.
I dare you do the same and give a sunflower to someone you don’t know. Be a part of the good; be a part of the #sunflowerchallenge.”
Since Danny posted this on Facebook, his story has been liked more than 180,000 times and shared more than 78,000 times.
Isn’t beautiful? I feel inspired and think I might try it, too. Share if you also believe in the power of simple acts of kindness to change lives!
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