I am writing this letter to celebrate the wonderful kindness in the hearts of Baltimoreans.
My mother recently passed away. My bother and his family live in Baltimore and offered to host our family gathering for the Thanksgiving holiday. My sister brought her two children from Ohio on a 12-hour train ride. I drove with my daughter from Pennsylvania. It was a special celebration to remember our mother and the children's grandmother but also for me to execute mother's wishes and present a large check to each grandchild.
We celebrated her life sharing her poetry and handing out the checks. The next morning, my sister and I walked the checks to the local post office to mail to the children's bank in their hometown of Naples, New York. But when we arrived at the post office, the pocket of my sister's jacket was empty. We so hoped she had forgotten the checks on the counter, but nope. We retraced our steps three times. We drove our steps. Nope, no checks.
As it turns out, the envelope with the checks had been found by a neighbor with a heart of gold who spent the day searching the Internet trying to trace the checks to the intended recipients. Eventually, he located my brother-in-law in Ohio. We met that neighbor and his wife that evening, and they returned those checks with an unbelievable tale of effort and people searching.
The spirit of kindness! May it come back to them ten-fold! My mother smiles upon them. You sure have some awesome people in Baltimore.
Julie Kugler, Oley, Pa.