It’s the random acts of kindness from strangers that can get us through life.
Now one mom is going viral for showing how it really does take a village to raise a child. And it started with a global IT outage. Gabrielle G. was visiting family in Kansas City, Mo., and headed back home to Florida when the outage struck.
She and her 18-month-old song were struggling after their flight was canceled. After snagging a seat on a connecting flight through Detroit, Mich., her and her son were removed from the flight because of space issues. Here is where her village starts forming.
Gabrielle G. holds her son during their trip home. Photo from TikTok
Another mom with a 2-year-old son overheard and had an offer. “She saw me at the desk and noticed that we got kicked off our flight,” Gabrielle said. “She told me that she was happy to put her child in her lap so that we could have the extra seat. And so, we ended up getting a seat on that plane after all because of her.”
Once Gabrielle and her son made it to Detroit, they found out their flight to Florida was canceled. With no other flights, rental cars or hotel rooms available, the pair was stranded. The next available flight was three days away.
While the stressed mom tried to figure out what to do, people started asking if she needed help watching her son. “These little boys just played with him while I was frantically trying to find a hotel room,” she said. She was always nearby keeping a close eye on her son, but the kindness gave her the chance to do what she needed to find a place for them to stay.
Photo from TikTok
“Finally, I found (a hotel) that was 40 minutes away from the airport. When we got there, I realized I didn’t have milk for my son. Some lovely man I met in the lobby said, ‘I’m going to walk and try to find a grocery store. I’m happy to bring you back some milk,’ ” Gabrielle said. “And he did.”
And it just continued, she said. There were just all these helpful people, especially when we realized we had to take the Amtrak train to get home, and it took us almost three days — 36 hours.” But thanks to the grandparents who bounced her son on their knee all the way to the constant support from the people around her, she and her son finally made it to their home.
Gabrielle posts often about motherhood on social media, so she filmed this part of their journey. “I was so afraid to be traveling solo with my son, and then for all of these things to happen — these roadblocks along the way — I just felt like it was so serendipitous that we were surrounded by all these amazing, kind people,” she said. “It was one of those situations where we were all stranded, and everyone just banded together to help.”
Even that mother giving us her seat, and things like that — just above and beyond kindness,” she said.
Gabrielle’s TikTok video now has more than 21.9 million views and 6,000 comments. She’s been blown away by the comments. “People just saying, ‘Wow, it’s not all bad out there. There are good people. Thank you for reminding us,'” Gabrielle said. “And I feel like that was the overall vibe of what people got from the video.”
Now, she realizes that there is always someone who is willing to be kind and lend a hand – you just have to take the time to look for them. “To them, it may have seemed like a small gesture, but to me and my son, it was everything,” she said. “It really did restore my faith in humanity and community. They showed us kindness when we needed it most.”
@notaregularnanny Sobbing crying making this video ❤️🩹🥲 my faith in humanity was restored after this whole experience #ittakesavillage #myvillage #motherhood #solotravel #solomom #travelingwithkids #stranded #momsoftiktok #faithinhumanityrestored ♬ Outro by m83 – 𝙡𝙤𝙡𝙖
