Alice suspected that the boy who regularly gathered leftovers from her restaurant was hiding something, so she decided to follow him one day.
But what she found along the road astonished her.
“You got lucky, kid. We have plenty of leftovers today, and you can take all of it home,” Steve said. He was the head chef at Alice’s restaurant and regularly saved the leftovers for Christopher, a small youngster who frequented their establishment for food.
“Oh really? Is it actually so much food? Do I have enough to share with my friends?” Christopher’s eyes brightened up.
Christopher was overjoyed upon receiving the food packs. He thanked Steve with a big smile, waved goodbye, and walked away cheerfully.
Alice, on the other hand, had no idea this was standard procedure at her restaurant until she noticed Christopher leave one night. She wasn’t certain, though, that he would eat leftovers to keep his tummy full.
She waited for him to return for a few days before seeing him at the restaurant on the third day. “Hi, there. Are you here for the leftovers?” she inquired, softly.
“Yes!” Chris responded pleasantly. “Can you please call the cook? He must have kept those packets for me.”
Alice offered him a kind smile.
“Well, there’s no need for that. I’ve prepared some fresh food for you so that you don’t eat the leftovers. By the way, what’s your name?”
“My full name is Christopher, but you may call me Chris.”
“So, why don’t you eat at home, Chris?” Alice asked. “Is your mom sick?”
“Well, actually … I live at an orphanage, and they don’t feed me well. Every time I come here, your employees help me. I’m grateful to you for that. Anyway, I’ll leave now,”
Alice had a sneaky hunch the boy had been concealing something all along. So, that day, she decided to follow him. She was astonished by what she saw next.
Instead of visiting an orphanage, Chris went to a residence, placed the food bag on the porch, and rushed away. Soon, an older woman emerged; she looked about in confusion, accepted the bag, and returned inside.
Alice was ready to knock on the door and ask that lady who she was and how she knew Christopher when she received an urgent call from the restaurant and had to leave.
When Christopher returned to the restaurant the following day, she was already there to wait for him.
“I’m sorry, I lied to you,” Chris instantly admitted. “But I’ve been taking food for my granny. She’s the only family I have now.”
“When my parents pa:ss:ed away, my grandmother didn’t get custody because she wasn’t financially stable. She can’t even afford food, so every day, I collect food from here and drop it off at her house.”
So, that day, she went to see his grandmother and told her everything. Christopher’s grandma, Edith, was taken aback when she realized it was her grandson who had been leaving food boxes on her porch all along.
That day, Alice went to the orphanage where Christopher was staying and applied for custody. Fortunately, the formalities were completed swiftly, allowing Christopher to return to his grandmother’s home.
Edith grasped Alice’s hands in her own. “I can’t make up for it, but you’re welcome to come to see us whenever you want. After all, you’re like family to us.”
“Oh, in that case, I have something to offer you…”
Edith had expected Alice to offer her a position in the restaurant, but when she learned what it was, she burst into tears again.
“I know it might be a bit too much to ask for, but ever since I lost my parents, I have had no one to look after me,” Alice said. “So, I’m looking for someone who will love me like a mother. I’m hoping you’ll accept the position. As far as Chris’ education is concerned, it’s my responsibility because I’m his guardian.”
“Of course, honey,” Edith replied as he embraced her. “I’ll never be able to repay your generosity. You literally appeared in our lives like an angel.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” Alice said. “I have a family now because of you, and I think that’s the greatest wealth I can ever have.”
KEEPING HOWIE IN OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS
When it comes to Howie Mandel, the first thing that comes to mind is positivism and laughter.
According to IMDb, he started his career in showbiz by pure chance. A producer noticed him during an amateur night at the Comedy Store on the L.A. Sunset Strip during a vacation after his friends convinced him to try it out.
Today, Mandel is one of the most famous names in the world of entertainment. A TV celebrity, screenwriter, actor, producer, director, entrepreneur, and popular game show panelist/host, you name it, Mandel has tried it all and proved that he’s great in all of it.
Recently, however, he decided to open up about his mental state and confessed he’s been battling anxiety, ADHD, and OCD most of his life. The truth is that no one can really assume that someone as fun as Mandel could be going through such a thing.
“I’m living in a nightmare,” he declared. ” I work to ground myself. I love what I do and have a lovely family. However, I can also experience severe sadness from which I can never recover.”
This turned even worse during the COVID-19 pandemic when we were forced into lockdown. Mandel revealed to People magazine that there was no day the thought “we would die” didn’t cross his mind. But the fact that no one from his closest surrounding was affected gave him comfort.
Although he was diagnosed in his thirties, Mandal knows he had OCD and ADHD since forever. He, however, didn’t speak of his mental state openly because he believed it would affect his career. “My first reaction was that I’ve embarrassed my family,” he admitted. “Then I realized that nobody would hire someone who wasn’t stable. Those were my concerns.”
It was comedy that helped him during the toughest times in his life.
“My coping mechanism is finding the humorous,” he declared. “If I’m not smiling, I’m probably sobbing. And I’ve still held back on how horrible and dark it actually gets. In a way, comedy saved me. I feel very much at ease on stage. And when I have nothing to do, I retreat, which is not healthy
Mandel’s goal is to help raise awareness about mental illness and break the stigma.
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Bored Daddy
Love and Peace
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