Suzanne Maughan was enjoying a day out with her daughter when she met an older woman named Mary, who was eating at the table next to them.
"She was by herself and kept looking over and smiling at us," Maughan wrote in a post on the Love What Matters Facebook page.
When their food came, Maughan started to cut up her daughter Hayley's pancakes. Mary leaned over to Hayley, and said, "You must have the best mom in the whole world. Never forget how amazing she is."
Maughan and Mary then talked about Mary's daughter, who is 49 and lives far away.
"Throughout the meal, we would have little conversations but mostly, she seemed to just be observing my relationship with my daughter and smiling at us," she wrote.
"Throughout the meal, we would have little conversations but mostly, she seemed to just be observing my relationship with my daughter and smiling at us," she wrote.
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Mary left before Maughan and her daughter, and they got a surprise when they got up to pay for their food.
"Waiting for us was the news she had paid for our food and left us a sweet note on the receipt," Maughan wrote. "'Thank you for sharing your mother day and daughter day with me. Mary.'"
"Waiting for us was the news she had paid for our food and left us a sweet note on the receipt," Maughan wrote. "'Thank you for sharing your mother day and daughter day with me. Mary.'"
It was a special moment, but even Mary didn't know exactly how special her random act of kindness was.
"Mary doesn't know I'm a single mother of two," Maughan wrote. "She doesn't know how difficult this week has been for me. She doesn't know my anxieties and insecurities and how much I pray to not feel so lonely."
A few conversations with a fellow mom helped her feel less lonely that day. "Thank you, Mary," she wrote. "You have made such a difference in my life with your kindness."
It's not easy being a mom, but being a single mom can be even more difficult. We're glad there are people like Mary who can help moms like Maughan's days be a little brighter.