Most parents of young children know how difficult it can be to travel with them on a plane. That’s why Jessica Rudeen feared the worst when she had to fly with her 3 year-old and four month-old children from Mississippi to North Carolina recently to visit her mother.

Jessica’s kids had a rough morning on the day of the flight, and things got even worse when she did not have time to breastfeed her infant son Alexander before they boarded, resulting in him becoming very grumpy. Making matters worse, though her toddler daughter Caroline was initially excited to fly, she started screaming and demanding to be let off the plane as soon as they boarded.

As Jessica found their assigned seats, she immediately made eye contact with the elderly man sitting next to them. When he opened his mouth to speak, Jessica assumed he was about to demand to be moved to another seat, but he said something instead that she was never expecting.

“So with two kids losing their minds, I was desperately trying to calm the situation,” Jessica recalled on Facebook. “This man reached for the baby and held him while I forced a seatbelt on Caroline, got her tablet and started her movie. Once she was settled and relatively calmed, he distracted her so that I could feed Alexander.”

Jessica could not have been more grateful that the man was willing to use his grandfatherly energy to help keep her children calm!

“This guy, Todd, showed me kindness and compassion that I’ve never known from another person. His wife, he said, had a similar experience when their two boys were young and a stranger showed her the same kindness,” Jessica continued.

Todd continued to chat with Caroline after the plane took off, choosing to color a book with her and then watch a movie with the child instead of putting his headphones on and going to sleep. He ended up keeping the toddler entertained for the whole flight, even pointing out all the fun things that could be seen out the window!

“By the end of the flight, he was Caroline’s best friend. I’m not sure if he caught the kiss she landed on his shoulder while they were looking out the window,” Jessica said.

Jessica was stunned when they landed and learned Todd was on their same connecting flight, so it was not time to say goodbye yet!

“Amazingly, we had the same connection in Charlotte to Wilmington, a connection he navigates frequently for work,” Jessica recounted. “He helped us get off the plane and led us to the next gate with Caroline in hand. If that wasn’t enough, he changed his seat on the next flight to sit in our row to help us.”

Todd truly had become Caroline’s grandfather for the day!

Jessica believes that God really did play a role in this.

“I am blown away by God’s hand in this because we could have been placed next to anyone, but we were seated next to one of the nicest men I have ever met in my life,” she concluded.

In the end, this serves as a reminder of how important it is to help those around us who are in need. God bless Todd for taking the time out of his day to help this little family!

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