Lonely Little Boy Offers to Carry Old Lady's Groceries, Asks Her to Be His Granny for Christmas — Story of the Day

A lonely little boy touches an older woman's heart when he carries her groceries home and asks her to be his grandmother.

Eddie tried to swirl his spaghetti on his fork but it sort of clumped together in a great big mess. He sighed. "Mom," he said sadly, "you're a great mom, but you're not a very good cook."

Diana Porter hid a smile. "No, I'm afraid not, Eddie," she admitted.

Her son looked up at her. "Pete's grandmother is a GREAT cook, you know. I wish I had a grandmother..."

Diana sighed. "Me too, Eddie, me too..." And that was when Eddie had the most brilliant idea ever. He was going to get his mom a real grandmother for Christmas!

The very next day Eddie headed for the most obvious place that might stock good grandmothers: Mr. Alfredo's Gourmet Grocery store. Mr. Alfredo had a great big slogan painted on the glass outside that proclaimed: 'Anything You Need We've Got.'

Eddie walked in and went straight up to Mr. Alfredo himself. He and Mr. Alfredo had known each other for exactly eight years, which was Eddie's age, so they were pretty comfortable together.

"Mr. Alfredo," Eddie said,. "Do you have any grandmothers?"

"Once, a long time ago I had two," replied Mr. Alfredo.

"I mean in stock," said Eddie. "You know, for sale."

"Oh," said Mr. Alfredo calmly. "If you look around you will see I have a wide selection of grandmothers in the store." Eddie looked around at the half-dozen or so elderly ladies pushing their carts around Alfredo's and sighed.

"Yes...They look very nice," Eddie said politely. "The question is, how much does a good grandmother who can cook go for these days? I don't have a lot of money..."

"Ah yes," said Mr. Alfredo. "That is a negotiation between the grandmother and the customer you understand, but I believe grandmothers are usually paid in hugs and kisses and a few chores."

"Hugs and kisses?" asked Eddie, a bit doubtful. He didn't know if he liked the sound of that. Some of those grandmothers looked like they had mustaches! "Let me think about it, Mr. Alfredo," Eddie said and started wandering down the supermarket aisle, looking the grandmothers over.

Then he saw her! Not too old, not too young, and no mustache. She was holding a bottle of tomato sauce which indicated she knew how to cook spaghetti. Eddie took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Hello," he said politely. "Are you a grandmother?"

What makes a family is love, support, and acceptance.

The lady looked at Eddie and smiled. She had a lovely smile. "Not at the moment, no," she replied.

"Well, would you like to be?" asked Eddie. "Because I'm looking for a grandmother, one who can cook and bake and do grandmother things."

"That sounds very interesting," the lady said (her name was Dorothy Claybourne and she was very lonely). "What are the rewards in being your grandmother? What are you offering?"

Biology isn't what makes family, what makes a family is love, support, and acceptance.

"I can do some chores for you," said Eddie. "Like carry your groceries home? And maybe once or twice a week I throw in a kiss and a hug?"

Dorothy was laughing. "Well, that is quite an offer! How can I resist?" So she shook Eddie's hand to seal the deal, and he offered to take her groceries home for her. As it turned out, Dorothy had just moved into Eddie's building which he thought very convenient.

They walked all the way home chatting like old friends, but when they got to the building, they found Diana Porter angrily talking on her cell phone. "I can't get a babysitter tonight, Mr. Mercurio," she said. "And I won't leave my son alone, so you'll just have to fire me!"

Diana hung up and burst into tears and Eddie ran to her. "Mom, what's wrong?" And Diana explained that a client wanted an inventory done before Christmas and her boss wanted her to work all night.

It was then that Dorothy stepped forward. "Hello," she said. "Eddie and I have just concluded a business deal and I believe I'm now his grandmother, so I could babysit him tonight."

Diana was stunned, but after getting the whole story from Eddie, she agreed to allow Dorothy to babysit while she went to work. It was one of the best nights of Eddie's life. Dorothy made great cookies and told amazing stories, and her hugs weren't bad either.

Before long, Dorothy, Eddie and Diana were as thick as thieves, and they spent their Christmas Eve together. They were planing the next day when the doorbell rang. Eddie cried, "It's Santa! He's early!"

He ran to the door and opened it, but it wasn't Santa. It was a tall thin woman wearing expensive clothes and too much lipstick. "Hello, Edward," she said. "I'm your grandmother."

Eddie looked up at her and shook his head. "No, you're not. You don't bake cookies for me, you don't play catch, you don't tell me stories," he said, and pointed at Dorothy. "That's my grandmother."

The woman looked very angry and called to Diana who came to the door. "Diana," she said. "You'd better come home because your son doesn't even know what family is!"

Diana looked the woman in the eye and said, "Nine years ago you were afraid an unmarried pregnant daughter would damage your reputation, you've never cared about us.

"My son knows exactly what family is. Family is the people who love and accept us no matter what, so you can go home alone and console yourself with your millions."

Diana's mother looked like she'd like to say some very nasty things, but Diana shut the door in her face and the three went back to planing how they were going to spend Christmas day together -- as a family.

What can we learn from this story?

• Family is the people whom you love and who love you back unconditionally. Unfortunately, Diana's mother hadn't been very supportive, so she had been raising Eddie alone until they met Dorothy.
• Biology isn't what makes a family, what makes a family is love, support, and acceptance. Dorothy, Diana, and Eddie were three lonely people and they gave each other the companionship they needed.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a man who is stunned when he recognizes the mother of his daughter's bridegroom and immediately tries to stop the wedding.

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