What else can you do but feel overburdened when you have a job, dishes, laundry, meals to cook, and a crying child who also has special needs? On the other hand, if you’re fortunate, it can happen that you run into a kind and decent person on a bad day.
Jessica Nash Donnahoo, a South Carolina mother of two and part-time nurse, recently found herself on a busy morning and experienced something similar.
When a Spectrum Internet technician arrived at her home to set up the TV streaming, he discovered “Chaos,” but what he did next had Jessica writing to the business to ask for a raise or promotion for him. The mother was alone with her children while her husband was at work, and she had her hands full.
Sailor, who is three years old, and Sunny, who is two years old, are Jessica’s two kids. Sailor, an adoptive child, was born blind and with two unusual brain abnormalities. After some time of attempting to conceive but failing, she and her husband Drew made the decision to adopt. They eventually discovered that Sailor has health problems.
“One of them is optic nerve hypoplasia, which caused him to be blind since birth,” He has a Chiari malformation of the brain, Jessica said, adding that he has a seizure issue as well. The mother said that her son had sensory difficulties and enhanced senses. Additionally, he frequently stays up all night since he cannot distinguish between night and day. He was therefore quite finicky that fateful Saturday when Rob entered.
On top of a difficult day, the fatigued mother was cleaning, washing dishes, and doing laundry while also trying her best to take care of her kids’ needs and calm her son. She also had to cope with the repairman.
However, things turned out differently.
Jessica didn’t anticipate what happens next, the technician, on the other hand, would turn out to be exactly what she needed. Jessica recalled Sailor walking over to Rob and reaching his arms in the air when he heard him speak. The mother knew her child had had a difficult day, but she also knew Rob had work to do.
“When Sailor heard Rob the Spectrum technician speak, Sailor walked over to him and reached his arms in the air. Rob didn’t ignore him or turn him away, but instead, happily scooped Sailor up for a cuddle,” she said.
Rob, like the experienced dad that he is, did not stop working just because he had the child in his arms.
However, the technician believed that Sailor’s needs were far more important than the internet. Although the mother knew her child had had a difficult day, she also knew Rob had work to do.
“I said, ‘You want me to pick you up buddy?’ while looking at her just to get a feel or not if it would be a problem. She seemed okay with it so I picked him up and held him while I was doing a few things inside. He was super comfortable with it to the point he started getting sleepy,” Rob recalled.
Jessica said, “He had to occasionally put Sailor down so that he could plug in equipment or go out to his truck, but otherwise, he held Sailor off and on for the entire 45 minutes that he was in our home.”
The pro-dad held the boy with one arm while making adjustments with the other. That day, the overwhelmed mother was grateful and expressed her gratitude.
“As a momma, I was incredibly grateful for his kindness,” Jessica said.
The busy mom was able to complete household tasks she had fallen behind on thanks to Rob’s willingness to comfort her son while he worked. Jessica tackled the clean clothes that were “covering the couch,” folding and putting them away as Rob relieved her of her cranky child.
Jessica wrote a post on her Facebook page Our Journey to Adopt: Jessica and Drew, To show her appreciation for his kindness.
In the post, Jessica wrote:
“Dear Spectrum Internet,
Today your technician Robert came to our home to upgrade our internet and help us start up TV streaming. He walked into a mess. My son, Sailor, is three years old. He was born with two rare brain defects and he is blind. He is unable to communicate his needs, and today has been rough for him. He has been crying all morning. I’ve been trying to soothe him while also meeting the needs of my two-year-old daughter, cleaning, washing dishes, and doing laundry while my husband works. It’s just been a tough day. When Robert walked in and started talking, Sailor ran to him and reached up. Robert didn’t seem bothered at all and, instead, held my son off and on for the whole 45 minutes he was in our home. He snuggled him close while I folded laundry. It was a huge relief to this tired momma. Robert could have walked in, rushed, and left but instead, he saw a need greater than the internet and met it. That’s beyond customer service – it’s humanity at its best. Robert deserves a raise… a promotion… something! He’s an asset to your company and I will never forget his kindness.
Sincerely,
Jessica”
“He understood the need for help, saw an opportunity to help another human being and took it. I think the reason that this act of kindness has resonated with so many people is that we can all relate — as parents, grandparents or just anyone who has been overwhelmed. In a world of mass shootings, political scandals, and drugs, we all need to be reassured that humanity and kindness still exist,” Jessica Donnahoo said.
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