12/27/2025
I gave my jacket to a homeless woman on Thanksgiving â 2 years later, she appeared at my door with a black backpack and an unforgettable smile.
After losing my wife to cancer at 49, my world revolved around our daughter, Sarah.
Thanksgiving felt different when living alone. I was 51 that year, with Sarah overseas and unable to visit. The house was unusually quiet as we planned to connect through a video call in the evening.
I decided to visit the grocery store and picked up a pumpkin pie, uncertain if I would actually eat it. On my way home, I noticed a woman sitting beneath a tree, shivering, no coat, her hands trembling, and keeping her gaze fixed to the ground.
Without dwelling on it, I handed her my jacketâthe cherished, warm brown one Sarah once got for me. She looked up, surprised.
She appeared older than her years, with hardship etched deeply in her face. I also gave her a bag of groceries and wrote my address on the pie box.
"Only if you really need help," I told her.
She softly whispered "thank you," as if it had been ages since someone had uttered those words to her.
Two years slipped by.
Last Thanksgiving, around noon, the doorbell rang. I wasn't expecting visitors since my daughter and her husband were already with me. Opening the door, I found the same woman from under the tree. She clutched a black backpack against her chest as if it meant everything to her.
"What do you need?" I asked.
I never anticipated seeing her again. What surprised me even more were her firs