A little girl made me (32M) cry
Last year while driving to work at a clients house, I spotted an injured monarch butterfly on the side of the road that couldn't fly. I pulled over and kept it safe in an open box with a bunch of colorful flowers for it. It also let me pick it up and would rest on me.
My client has a granddaughter, a child younger than 10, nicknamed "Poppy," who arrived and was both amazed and concerned for this butterfly. I asked them to take care of it that day so I could work, and she was thrilled.
I'm told I became something like a role model and she asked about me and the butterfly frequently, when ever she arrived she would search for me to come see me and talk, and always asked how this butterfly was doing.
Flash forward to this year, and for some pretext I've literally been having one of the worst weeks of my life. I'm at a breaking point in my family and have slept in my car multiple times.
But Poppy returned again, after almsot a year, and she never forgot me or what I did. She asked if I still had it, I told her the butterfly recovered and flew away last summer, and she showed me this adorable butterfly hat she wears kw and that butterflies are her favorite. And something about that made me teary, and then when she left with her grandmother, I started crying my eyes out.
I don't have my own kids, and probably won't, haven't even had a friend or relationship in almost 10 years now because of the C-PTSD and clinical depression. I've been in a very bad place lately so in a cruel world where it feels like the adults don't care anymore, this kid saw my humanity and trusts me like I'm some kind of super hero over one small act of kindness. I hope I inspired them to care for animals. I would protect them at all costs.