A family turned their heartbreak into a birthday gift for someone else

A Calgary family turned heartbreak into a heartwarming act of kindness that helped someone celebrate their birthday.

Calgarian Morgan Haigler shared the tear-jerking story on her Facebook.

“Had recently experienced one of the most heartwarming acts of kindness ever!” Morgan Haigler wrote in a Facebook post. “In early celebration of my sister’s birthday I had ordered her a cake at Marble Slab Royal Oak. On the day I was expected to pick it up, I had my husband swing by instead.”

She said when her husband came home, they saw an unexpected note.

“After he came back with the cake he had asked if I had included a message on the cake pertaining to losing a son. At first, I thought that was odd and that maybe we received the wrong cake or the additional message may have been intended for someone else. Upon reading it, I realized we had the right cake and that the message was intended for us.”

The note read: “Our son passed away…Today [February 27] is his birthday. Because we can’t buy him a cake, we bought yours. Happy Birthday.”

“My heart tugged at me when I read this as I realized that commemorating a son’s birthday on a day you can’t physically celebrate with him in person must be especially hard. And yet, his parents still had so much kindness and love in their hearts to do something special for someone they never met.”

She said her first thought was it was a message from the owner of the Marble Slab, but they were surprised to learn that was not the case.

“The owner didn’t buy our cake but a random stranger who had walked into the shop bought our cake, saying that they had lost a son and would like to purchase any cake that hadn’t been paid for that day.”

She says she respects how difficult that must have been for the Good Samaritan that paid it forward under difficult circumstances.

“I know that really took a lot of strength for them to go into a random shop and order a cake for a complete stranger on one of the happiest yet saddest days they would remember for the rest of their lives. Still yet, it satisfied them to bring great joy to someone even if this day brought them deep sorrow.”

Haigler said she is taking a lot from this.

“I guess the true meaning/message behind this experience is that life is too short. Quality time with family is of the essence. Spreading kindness around like confetti should happen spontaneously and abundantly. Don’t take small opportunities to see and express yourself fully with loved ones for granted. There are few times we have in life to make rare and impactful moments count.”

And she has a message for the people who, even through heartbreak, provided them with this amazing gift.

“For the beautiful strangers who touched our hearts, if you are out there reading this message, we would still love to acknowledge and reciprocate your good deed with our gift. If not, we will keep it as a warm reminder that good people still exist in our world.”