Samantha Welch is a 20-something single mom of a rambunctious little boy named Rylan.
In 2015, Samantha brought 3-year-old Rylan onto a crowded train and proceeded to keep him as occupied as possible until he fell asleep on her lap.
During the trip, a man wearing a hat and glasses sat down in her car. There was hardly any space, but she kindly made room.
When the man reached his stop, he stood up, tapped her on the shoulder, and said, “I think you’ve dropped this out of your bag.” He handed her a folded-up piece of paper and exited the train.
Samantha realized the man was lying. He had actually handed her a note he wrote, along with some cash.
When Sammie read the stranger’s words, she was so shocked that she wanted to cry right there in her seat.
In January 2015, 23-year-old Samantha Welch was sitting on the train next to her three-year-old son, Rylan.
Even though the train was very crowded that day, Samantha made room for a man to sit down next to them.
The man wore glasses and a hat.
The single mother from the U.K. did everything she could to keep little Rylan occupied — from playing games to general chitchat.
At one point, the mother-son duo quietly worked together on a quick lesson about manners.
Eventually, Rylan fell asleep and Samantha moved him onto her lap, cuddling him close.
The man seated next to Samantha reached his stop, stood up, tapped her on the shoulder, and said, “I think you’ve dropped this out of your bag.”
He quickly handed her a folded-up piece of paper and exited the train.
Samantha looked at the paper in her hand and realized it was a handwritten note wrapped around a £5 bill.
The note read:
Have a drink on me, you’re a credit to your generation, polite and teaching the little boy good manners.
P.S. I have a daughter your age, someone did the same for her once. Hope when she has children she is as good a mother as you.
The note was signed as “man on the train at the table with glasses and hat.”
Samantha was so shocked and surprised that she felt like crying right there in her train seat.
She never had the chance to thank the mystery man before he disappeared.
Desperate to personally tell the man how much this gesture meant, Samantha went home and began searching for him on Facebook.
She and Rylan also appeared on local talk shows to tell their story and track him down.
About a week later, the hard work paid off, and the kindhearted mystery man was identified.
Ken Saunders, 50, was on his way home from work at the National Health Service in England.
Ken is a family man who has been with his partner for 16 years and has four stepsons.
He couldn’t believe the overwhelming response to his spur-of-the-moment note.
Ken says he was just coming off a long workday, and watching Samantha and Rylan together was a much-welcomed reprieve. Rylan, a playful and energetic little boy, reminded him of his grown daughter when she was younger.
He was also touched by how Samantha corrected Rylan’s manners, and how Rylan responded to his mom’s teachings with respect and eagerness to learn.
“It made such a change compared to the maligned young people of today,” he told DailyMail.
“I thought, ‘She’s lightened up my night, I’m going to lighten up her night.’”
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