I just found this question and I love it!
This kind of situation is exactly how I met my husband. I was a single mom, my ex was so far behind on child support, it wasn’t even funny. It was near Christmas, I had paid all my bills, paid for the lay-a-way at Wal-Mart – only to find out when they brought all the stuff out, part of it was missing. My daughter never asked for very much, but she wanted a Barbie Dream House. To top things off, my car broke down. At the time, I worked for a automotive group that owned over 200 dealerships. I called one of the guys, asked him if he could help me get it back to the dealership – he said of course. (he was an older man that treated me like his daughter) When they got it to the dealership, I told him I was almost broke, had very little money to put into the car. He said not to worry about that, he would keep the costs down.
The next day, I went to pay for my car (he put me in a loaner for the night) and I held my breath waiting for the total. He introduced me to the man that fixed my car – he explained that he told him my situation and he promised to keep the costs low. I asked them how much, and the man (very tall man) that fixed my car handed me my keys and said, “Merry Christmas.” He paid for the parts and fixed my car for free. I couldn’t believe it. Then, to top things off, I looked in the car, there was a Barbie Dream House in the backseat. He also had other gifts in the seat. He said that he was single, had been married for ten years, they never had children. He always wanted children. He said that it wasn’t fair that my daughter didn’t get her one request, because Wal-Mart misplaced it. (this one was the deluxe model of the toy!) He had a few little gifts for me, too. I just broke down crying. I couldn’t believe a total stranger would do that for me. I was so thankful, but a complete mess. Life had just been really crappy, up to that point. One huge act of kindness was the best gift I could have ever received.
He’s now my husband, he helps raise my daughter and we have a son, together. He’s been by my side while I’ve been fighting cancer. He’s my best friend and husband.