81-Year-Old Doesn't Sleep for Days Sewing Blanket for Blind Man Who Is a Copy of Her Late Son — Story of the Day

An old lady doesn't sleep for days, sewing a blanket for a blind man she sees at a crosswalk one day. Things take an unexpected turn when she approaches him to hand over the blanket and discovers he's a carbon copy of her late son!

Mrs. Hill's life had never been easy. Her husband Carson died of cancer a few years after their marriage, and her son Liam died in a car accident 25 years ago, leaving her all alone.

After Liam's funeral, nobody saw Mrs. Hill in Austin, Texas, and she seemed to have vanished mysteriously. The woman had left the city and moved to the countryside, hoping to avoid the melancholy feelings that the city that had taken away her son and husband had instilled in her.

Unfortunately, the countryside didn't present Mrs. Hill with a better life. It was more peaceful than the city, but all she had was a small farm that yielded a bare minimum and hardly kept her fed. As winter approached, the yield reduced even more drastically, and Mrs. Hill struggled to make ends meet.

One day, she was returning home after a meeting with a local vendor when she noticed a homeless man shivering in the cold, begging for alms. "Please assist me in getting home. I'm blind and have lost my memory," read the placard next to him.

Mrs. Hill noticed several people passed by him, but nobody bothered to help him. She checked her wallet for money and discovered all she had were a few cents. That certainly wouldn't do the man any good, the old lady reasoned, looking at his dire state and torn clothes that barely covered his skin, lest protect him from the cold.

So that night, at home, she decided to sew him a blanket that would keep him warm in the wintry weather. If it had been her older self, the job would've been done in a few days, but at 81 years of age, her eyes had started betraying her.

So the woman didn't sleep for nearly a week, sewing the blanket little by little after returning from the farm so she could give it to the man before the weather deteriorated and snow engulfed the entire area.

However, when she returned to the street where she'd first seen him with the blanket and some fruits, he was nowhere to be found. She asked the shops in the area about him and searched the nearby alleys, but it was all for naught.

The man didn't show up for several days, and Mrs. Hill was losing hope that she'd see him again. But one evening, while walking through the market, she noticed him seated outside a shop. She dashed up to him, clutching the blanket she'd been carrying all along.

"Hello there," she said trembling, offering it to him. "Please accept this. It'll keep you warm."

The man looked up, spreading his hands, and Mrs. Hill gently gave the blanket to him. "Can you not see anything at all, dear?" she inquired, feeling sorry for him.

"Yes, I am completely blind," he said weakly, removing his glasses and revealing his eyes, which were completely clouded by cataracts.

"Oh my God!" Mrs. Hill gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Without his glasses, the man looked a lot like her late son!

This can't be possible! Perhaps my eyes are failing me! But her heart kept telling her that there was more to her encounter with the homeless man than just a coincidence.

I must take him to the hospital. If my eyes are not deceiving me, this man is undoubtedly related to my son, and I want to know how, she thought and immediately called an ambulance.

"All right, I'm going to take you to the hospital. They'll just do a routine checkup on you because I'm concerned about your health," she lied to him not because she wanted to, but because she knew he wouldn't believe her if she said he looked like her son, and Mrs. Hill herself wasn't sure. The man nodded but didn't say much.

When they arrived at the hospital, Mrs. Hill explained everything to the doctor, including how he resembled her late son. The doctor was perplexed at first and didn't believe her, but she promised to return the next day with her son's picture to prove it to him, hoping she wasn't mistaken in making the claim.

When she actually did return with the photograph the next day, the doctor in charge, Dr. Smith, was shocked.

"That's strange! Given that you claim one of your twin children died, I'm not sure how this is possible. However, this patient has memory loss as a result of trauma. We can help him regain his memory if we keep him under observation, but we don't know if it will be successful. Perhaps then we'll find out what happened."

"Isn't there any other way, doctor?"

"Well, we can perform a DNA test, but we'll need the patient's permission. Given his condition, I don't think it's right to tell him about his past right now."

"How long will the treatment take then?"

"We're not sure, ma'am, but I suggest that waiting is your best bet."

Months passed and Mrs. Hill visited the stranger every day, looked after him, and sometimes spoke about her late son, but it was not working.

She sold a portion of her farm to pay the hospital bills, and she was nearing the end of her savings. If the treatment doesn't work, I'll never get to know why he resembles my son so much! She was about to leave her house for the hospital when Dr. Smith called her.

"Mrs. Hill!" he called out cheerfully. "The patient…His name is Ben Riddle. He regained his memory, and he has a lot to tell you!"

"Really, doctor?" Mrs. Hill was delighted. "I'll be right there!" The woman dashed to the hospital to meet Ben. And when he narrated to her his story, Mrs. Hill couldn't contain her tears.

It turns out Ben discovered he was adopted when he was 18 years old. His adoptive parents adored him and never kept anything from him. They also told him that his biological mother had been unconscious for two weeks after giving birth to twins and that no one expected her to live. So his father abandoned him at an orphanage because he was born blind but took his twin brother with him.

"I don't know how to put this across, but it's you!" Ben said, taking Mrs. Hill's hands in his. "YOU'RE MY MOTHER! Thanks to one of my friends, who pulled a few strings at the orphanage, I learned about you. I can never forget how happy I was that day! However, because you'd left the city and moved to the countryside, it took me a while to track you down. And sadly, the day I was coming to meet you, I met with an accident, and after that, I didn't remember anything."

"I can't believe Carson could stoop so low. He lied to me that only one of my children made it through." Mrs. Hill burst into tears and hugged her son.

Later, as Ben recovered, he returned to New York to take charge of his business. Mrs. Hill joined him there and they lived happily together. However, in an unexpected turn of events, it was revealed that Ben's accident was not a random occurrence but was planned by his partner. Ben's business partner was apprehended by cops, and he is currently serving a sentence imposed by the court.

What can we learn from this story?

• Some accidents are beautiful. Mrs. Hill met Ben accidentally while she was on her way home, and that one incident reunited her with her son.
• Sometimes our gut feelings are correct. When Mrs. Hill met Ben, her heart kept telling her that they had a connection and she was right.

If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a grandson who throws a dirty bag of walnuts his poor grandma gave in a drawer and opens it only after her death.

This account is inspired by our reader's story and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.