What I Learned From a Chance Meeting With a Child Years Ago

Just days before Christmas, an ordinary work shift changed my life. At twenty-five, I was driving a school bus, focused on getting by, when I noticed a small boy walking alone under a dim streetlight after my final stop. He looked no older than six, weighed down by an oversized backpack and clutching a worn stuffed animal. When I stopped to help, he quietly told me his mother had died that day and that he was afraid to go with strangers. I promised he wouldn’t be alone, without realizing how deeply I would keep that promise.

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