A Delaware mother and her daughter were recently the recipients of a recent outpouring of goodwill — just in time for the daughter’s 18th birthday.
What are the details?
Deborah Cuoco and her 18-year-old daughter, Alexandra, had just arrived at a local Wegmans to pick up birthday cupcakes when they discovered that an anonymous good Samaritan had paid for Alexandra’s sweet treats.
According to KYW-TV, a store employee approached the mother-daughter duo when they arrived to pick up the cupcakes and advised them, “This has been paid for.”
“I looked at [the clerk] and said, ‘I think there’s been a mistake,” Deborah recalls. “[The clerk] said, ‘No, I don’t think you understand. Somebody bought these for you.'”
As if to explain further, the clerk handed over a birthday card with a single paragraph.
The card read, “Dear birthday family, we purchased this cake in honor of our daughter Lillian on her first heavenly birthday. We wish you a very happy birthday and a wonderful year.”
The “M family” signed the short note, which accompanied the birthday cupcakes.
How did the mom, daughter react?
Alexandra said she was moved by the gesture, and expressed her wishes to thank the family.
“I wish I could say thank you or give the mom a hug,” Alexandra told the station. “Happy birthday, Lillian.”
Deborah also said that she’ll never forget the kind gesture.
“It will have a ripple effect for the rest of my life,” she admitted. “I will never forget it. It was the purest form of love.”
Deborah said that she plans to pay the gesture forward, and next year on her daughter’s birthday, she will do the same thing.
“I intend to go on Aug. 27, 2021, walk into a store with a prepared note explaining Lillian’s story, and that we want to pay it forward,” Deborah told the station.