Kindness Was the Only Thing Still Standing, part two

1. I was crying quietly on a train after a breakup. A woman gave me her headphones: "Play track three." It was "What a Wonderful World." It made me smile for the first time in weeks. Months later, while visiting my therapist, that same song started playing quietly in her office. I looked up — same voice, same calm smile. She just said, "Told you it helps." YES! It was HER! Have you ever had a stranger reassure you in a time of emotional despair?

2. After my mom died of cancer, I found packets of sunflower seeds in her drawer, each labeled: "Plant these somewhere bright." So, I did in empty patches of dirt all over town. A year later, driving through the city, I saw yellow everywhere. People had taken photos, planted their own. Then I noticed one patch I never planted — right outside the hospital where she passed. Someone had written on a sign: "For the woman who taught strangers to bloom." It turned out my mom had spent her last years helping local shelters — and her only wish was for people to give back by planting sunflowers to make the town a little sunnier. Do you like this woman's selfless act of kindness to brighten others' days with yellow sunflowers?