MY SON ASKED A JANITOR ONE QUESTION IN A MALL FOOD COURT — AND IT CHANGED ALL OF OUR LIVES
My Son Invited a Janitor to Lunch — and We Gained a Grandfather
Micah and I were eating at the mall food court when he noticed the janitor. The man moved slowly, his name tag read Frank, and sadness seemed to follow him.
“Why does he look sad?” Micah asked.
“Maybe he’s having a hard day,” I said.
Before I could stop him, Micah walked over.
“Hi. Do you want to sit with us? You can have my cookie. It’s the big one.”
Frank tried to decline.
Then Micah asked quietly, “Do you miss your dad?”
Frank froze. His face crumpled. He knelt and hugged my son while the whole food court seemed to fall silent.
When he could speak, he told us about his boy, James, who died in a car accident two years earlier. He hadn’t talked about him since.
Micah held his hand. “My grandma says we carry people in our hearts.”
After that, Thursdays at noon became tradition. Cookies, stories, remembering. Frank slowly became part of our lives.
At Micah’s next birthday, he ran to the door and yelled, “Grandpa Frank’s here!”
Frank looked at me for permission.
I smiled. “You earned it.”
Sometimes family begins with simple kindness.
And sometimes, a child sees what the rest of us forget.
