![\"\"](%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/02%5C/Homeless-Man-Asked-Me-to-Buy-Him-Coffee-on-His-Birthday0-1.png%5C%22 "\\"\\"")
I\u2019d arrived at the airport too early, my nerves pushing me to leave home before it was time. To pass the time, I went into a cozy little coffee shop across the street.\n
That is when I noticed him.\n
The man shuffled in, wearing shabby clothes. His face was wrinkled, indicating that he had worked hard throughout his life.\n
Then he stopped in front of my table.\n
\u201cExcuse me,\u201d he gently said. \u201cCould you spare some change? Just enough for a coffee.\u201d\n I paused. My initial thought was to decline.\n But something about him felt unusual. He wasn\u2019t pushy and seemed uncomfortable to be asking.\n \u201cWhat kind of coffee do you want?\u201d I asked.\n \u201cJamaican Blue Mountain,\u201d he said, almost sheepishly. \u201cI\u2019ve heard it\u2019s really good.\u201d\n \u201cIt\u2019s my birthday,\u201d he smiled. \u201cAlways wanted to try it. Figured\u2026 why not today?\u201d\n \u201cAlright,\u201d I said, standing up. \u201cLet\u2019s get you that coffee.\u201d\n His face brightened with a genuine smile. \u201cThank you,\u201d he responded.\n I didn\u2019t simply buy him coffee, though. I included a slice of cake in the order.\n \u201cSit,\u201d I said. \u201cTell me your story.\u201d\n His name was David, and he had lost everything years before, losing his family, work, and even his home.\n As I sat there, I knew he wasn\u2019t simply searching for a handout. This was someone who had been broken by life yet refused to give up.\n I gave him $100 before leaving, but he tried to refuse it.\n \u201cConsider this a gift from my side, man,\u201d I told him. \u201cAnd happy birthday!\u201d\n My anxiety about seeing Kathy\u2019s parents had subsided, but the image of her father lingered in my thoughts.\n I pulled up my phone to SMS Kathy, who was already at her parents\u2019 house.\n I\u2019m super nervous, I wrote. How\u2019s it going there?\n Everything\u2019s great, she texted back. I\u2019m sure Dad\u2019s going to love you.\n Just as I was settled in, a figure entered the aisle. My heart nearly stopped when I gazed at his face.\n That was him. It\u2019s the same man from the caf\u00e9.\n This man had a nice, cut suit, his hair neatly groomed, and a shining watch on his wrist.\n \u201cWhat\u2026 what\u2019s going on here?\u201d\n He leaned back with a cheeky smile on his face. \u201cLet\u2019s call it\u2026 a test.\u201d\n \u201cLet me introduce myself properly. I\u2019m David.\u201d He paused, watching my reaction. \u201cKathy\u2019s father.\u201d\n \u201cSo, this was all an act?\u201d I asked.\n \u201cA necessary one,\u201d he replied calmly. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to show kindness when everyone\u2019s watching. But I wanted to know how you\u2019d treat a stranger, especially one who seemed to have nothing to offer you. Turns out, you passed the first part.\u201d\n He opened the notebook and gave me a pen. \u201cJust one more. Write a letter to Kathy.\u201d\n Initially, the words came slowly, stumbling over ideas and feelings. But soon, the pen appeared to move on its own.\n By the end, my hand ached, but my heart felt lighter.\n \u201cYou passed,\u201d he remarked. \u201cWelcome to the family.\u201d\n When we eventually landed and deboarded, I was physically and psychologically drained.\n When we arrived, Kathy\u2019s mother, Susan, greeted us with warmth. Kathy\u2019s brothers and sister were also there.\n Dinner was an awkward affair, with everyone making polite talk while David sat back and observed things intently.\n I couldn\u2019t help but wonder, Did I really pass?\n \u201cYou\u2019ve done well, Jimmy,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve shown me who you really are. And that means something.\u201d\n That\u2019s when I discovered a folded piece of paper on the counter.\n As I unfolded it, I discovered that it was a receipt for a cup of coffee from the caf\u00e9 I had visited earlier that morning. The one in which I met David.\n However, the receipt did not include the coffee I ordered for David. There was an extra price at the bottom.\n \u201cExtra donation \u2014 $100.\u201d\n At that time, I recognized I was not marrying into a traditional family. These people were extraordinary, and they wanted me to understand the value of charity. And what it meant to be a member of this family.\n This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.\n Source: thecelebritist.com\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I had never given destiny much thought until I met Kathy. She entered my life three months ago, and in a matter of weeks, she had taken over my life. People labeled me crazy for proposing after only a month, but I couldn\u2019t deny how everything came into place with her. Now I\u2019m flying out …\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103305,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1439],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90782"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103312,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90782\/revisions\/103312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/echowoven.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/02%5C/Homeless-Man-Asked-Me-to-Buy-Him-Coffee-on-His-Birthday7.jpg%5C%22 "\\"\\"")
![\"\"](%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/02%5C/Homeless-Man-Asked-Me-to-Buy-Him-Coffee-on-His-Birthday6.jpg%5C%22 "\\"\\"")
![\"\"](%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/02%5C/Homeless-Man-Asked-Me-to-Buy-Him-Coffee-on-His-Birthday5.jpg%5C%22 "\\"\\"")
![\"\"](%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/02%5C/Homeless-Man-Asked-Me-to-Buy-Him-Coffee-on-His-Birthday4.jpg%5C%22 "\\"\\"")
![\"\"](%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/echowoven.com%5C/wp-content%5C/uploads%5C/2025%5C/02%5C/Homeless-Man-Asked-Me-to-Buy-Him-Coffee-on-His-Birthday8.jpg%5C%22 "\\"\\"")