I think one thing that we learned from 2017 is that we can all use a little more kindness in the world, and a woman in Arizona is spreading kindness in the face of the most unfortunate circumstances.
A tweet from Kyle Jauregui in Scottsdale, Arizona, is going viral because of the message that it contains. His family went to the supermarket to pick up the birthday cake that was being made for his younger sister Madison.
Turns out, someone had anonymously paid for the cake already, but left a little message for the Jauregui family with it.
"McKenna's Mom" is Ashley Santi from Scottsdale, Arizona, and evidently this is something that happens every year. Ashley lost her daughter McKenna at 9 months old due to a tragic in-home accident, and out of that grief she discovered the MISS Foundation "Kindness Project". The Kindness Project is a worldwide movement to share our children (or other loved ones) with those who never had the honor to meet them, according to their website.
Essentially, Ashley anonymously buys a birthday cake every year for someone that shares her daughter's birthday as a way to grieve McKenna and allow her spirit to live on.
As someone who has lost a child, I can say with extreme confidence that the grieving process is like nothing else you will ever experience in life, but what an AMAZING way to corral that grief and turn it into something positive for someone else.
RIP McKenna, and know that you still live on through your Mom's work.