I will begin this story with the fact that I, being in the service of a large state-owned enterprise, get an offer to serve as chairman of a youth trade union organization. Of course I accepted this offer, as I incredibly love to organize various charity events, hold fundraisers for various treatments, surgeries and other needs of children who need help. In addition to helping children, we also often give time to retirees and veterans not only financially but also morally. One fine day I receive a letter asking me to take care of an orphanage. Of course I couldn’t refuse such a request and of course my colleagues and I set out on a trip, luckily the orphanage was not too far from our city.
We were met on the spot by an elderly man. He was the director, who looked more like a sweet grandfather, surrounded by an incredible amount of grandchildren. The man brought us up to speed, since I had absolutely no experience with municipal homes. In our case it was a family type house.
They made us feel very warm and welcome, treated us to tea, showed us all the rooms where the kids lived and spent their time. There were twenty children in the care of the house, the oldest was 14 years old. It was clear that everyone was preparing for our arrival, as we were even lucky enough to attend the concert. Unfortunately, we don’t get many visitors here, so the children were very excited to talk to us. It was obvious that the little ones have a deficit of communication with unfamiliar people.
Watching that picture, it was incredibly hard to hold back every emotion in me, so we all, as one, unconditionally decided to take the helm in our hands and share our love with the children here.
Before I left, I decided that I couldn’t leave all of these kids just by saying goodbye. I talked to each one personally and decided that my next visit should bring them a little more happiness and asked who wanted what, who needed what.
The children had fairly normal desires, as for their age. Some wanted new clothes, some wanted books, toys, school supplies, some unusual candy and lots of other things that all their peers want.
I was attracted to one boy, about six years old, who at first shied away from me and was clearly shy. However, we hit it off, and he whispered in my ear so quietly that he would most like to get a brand new racing car that he and his friends can arrange races. His wish, I decided that the desire of this baby, I must personally fulfill, so immediately after returning to town went in search of the best racing car. The choice was very difficult, but in the end I decided and was confident that my promise will be fulfilled a thousand percent.
It took me and my team quite a long time to collect all the orders. It wasn’t until a month later that we were able to get everything ready and go to the kids for the second meeting. As I said before, visitors to this place were rare, and the emotion and joy that radiated from the orphanage is incredibly difficult to describe. Of course I immediately found my little companion with my eyes, his name was Mark. He was shy again and stood far away from everyone, so I decided to go up to him myself and give him the promised gift.
The boy’s eyes betrayed his impossible delight and happiness. He walked around the box for a long time, apparently could not believe that his such a small, but at the same time a huge dream had come true. Mark unpacked the car with great trepidation and accuracy. And after he got to the innermost thing, froze for a split second, as if a statue.
I could see the baby’s tears flowing, but he held firm, a real man, and I was touched by the child’s reaction, as if I were a little boy myself. He hugged me as tightly as his strength allowed, I was even a little taken aback and didn’t know how to behave in this situation.
Most likely the ending of the story would be obvious to everyone, I could not leave this boy here. After consulting with my wife we decided to adopt Mark, so now he has a real, loving family. And half a year after Mark came into our lives, my wife found out she was expecting a baby, even though nothing worked out for us for a long time. So Mark and I have obviously been incredibly important in each other’s lives!
