Dad Sells Late Baby's Sweater to Old Lady, Later Mom Finds Box from Her on Their Doorstep — Story of the Day

A woman grieving the loss of her baby is devastated when her husband sells all of their little boy's mementos at a garage sale. But fate had a surprise in store for her.

When Lynn Dardon saw that pink cross on the pregnancy test, she started screaming. "Don! We're pregnant! WE'RE PREGNANT!" Lynn and Don had been hoping and praying for this day for eight long years and finally, their dream was coming true!

Lynn spent the next seven months in a daze. All she'd ever wanted was to be a mom and to share that experience with Don. When their baby boy was finally in her arms, she was delirious with happiness, but unfortunately, her happiness was short-lived.

Lynn and Don's baby boy, Sam, lived just five months. One afternoon, Lynn went to check on Sam during his nap and found that God had called her boy home. Sam was gone, and no one could explain to Lynn why he'd died.

Doctors spoke about sudden infant death, the priest spoke about the will of God, but all that Lyn knew was that the nursery upstairs was empty, that there was no Sammy gurgling and clutching at his toes, or nuzzling at her breast.

All there was, was a hideous yawning pit of pain and rage that threatened to consume her. Lynn spent days curled up in the rocking chair in Sammy's room clutching his tiny blue sweater, breathing in his scent.

"Sammy!" she'd whisper and hum a lullaby to herself. In that nursery, holding the little knitted blue sweater with the snowflakes, Lynn felt close to her son, less desperate, and less alone.

Don, who was grieving too, didn't understand that remembering Sammy, touching his toys, his little clothes, comforted Lynn. He thought that she was obsessed with a morbid memory.

His mother gave him what turned out to be very bad advice. "When your father died," she said, "I had some people come in and take all his clothes and his things away. It helped me move on, come to terms with his death."

Every one of us works through our grief in a different way.

It made sense to Don. He knew Lynn was in pain, and it seemed to him that clinging to Sam's sad little belongings wasn't doing her any good, or allowing her to move on, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.

He called Lynn's mom who lived in Lake Tahoe and arranged for Lynn to go spend a long weekend with her, and while Lynn was away Don had every single thing that would remind her of Sam removed and sold at a yard sale.

Quite by chance, Amelia Hawkins, who was an avid knitter, was going past the yard, and her eye was caught by a tiny blue sweater on a pile of baby clothes. "I love that color!" Amelia thought. "I'll buy that!"

Amelia loved transforming old things into new ones, and she never bought new yarn. She made a point of buying old knits, unraveling them, and making them into her own creations.

Amelia thought that the owners of the yard were selling clothes their child had outgrown. She never imagined that the sweet little blue sweater with the snowflake pattern was a mother's last memento of a beloved dead child.

When Lynn came home from Lake Tahoe, the first thing she did was to run upstairs to Sammy's room, but when she opened the door, the breath was crushed out of her body.

The nursery was empty! There was no cradle, no pale blue walls with dancing elephants, no sweet baby scent in the air. The room was painted stark white and smelled of fresh paint.

Don was standing behind her and he said, "I think maybe..." But what he thought or didn't think we will never know, because Lynn never let him explain.

"Where are Sammy's things!?" she screamed. "Where are my baby's things!?"

"Lynn, you were dwelling..." Don stammered.

"Where is the blue sweater? It was all I had left of him!" Lynn cried. "It smelled like Sammy, I want it!"

"I- I- I sold it!" stammered Don, who was starting to think maybe his mother's advice hadn't been as good as it had sounded at the time.

"YOU SOLD ALL I HAD LEFT OF MY SON?" Lynn screamed. "It's all gone as if he never existed! HOW COULD YOU!"

Lynn rushed out of the stark empty room that had been the happiest place in the house and locked herself in their bedroom, and she wouldn't come out. No matter what Don did or said, Lynn lay on her bed and cried.

Don was desperate, so he asked Lynn's mother and her best friend for help and even spoke to their next-door neighbor, a kindly woman named Karen who had several children of her own.

Karen was shocked and saddened by what Don had done, but she saw how desperate he was to make things right and she tried to talk to Lynn, but nothing helped.

That weekend, she had tea with her friend Amelia and told her about Lynn's grief at the loss of her baby's mementos. Amelia gasped. "A little blue sweater with a snowflake pattern?"

"How did you know, Amelia?" asked Karen.

"I bought it," Amelia confessed. "I thought it was outgrown! I've unraveled it! Oh, dear! I wish I could help this poor girl!"

That night, Amelia lay in bed tossing and turning, then she had an idea. Maybe she couldn't give Lynn back the little sweater, but she might be able to give her something else.

A few days later, Don found a small box on their doorstep addressed to Lynn. He knocked on their bedroom door. "Lynn," he said. "There's a parcel for you on the doorstep."

"Go away!" Lynn shouted.

But Don said, "It's addressed 'to Sammy's mom.'"

Within minutes, Lynn was rushing down the stairs and staring at the parcel on the doorstep. She picked it up and an envelope fell out.

Don picked it up, opened the envelope and he started reading the letter inside aloud: "Dear Mrs. Dardon, a few weeks ago I was walking past a yard sale and I bought a blue sweater..."

"The sweater? It's Sammy's sweater?" Lynn cried, struggling to get the box open.

Don shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, love, the lady said she unraveled it, but..."

Lynn opened the box and pulled out a pair of adult-sized mittens knitted out of the blue yarn and with the same snowflake pattern.

Don explained, "She says 'I hope these mittens will bring your baby closer to you, every moment of every day. I too lost a child and know how difficult it is for people to understand the pain we mothers go through.

"'My dear, your baby is with you always. He is in your heart, part of you. I hope these mittens give you comfort and allow you to feel closer to him.

"'Your baby is not gone, his little body is transformed, and he is now a spirit of love that will be with you your whole life. God bless you and keep you always. Amelia Hawkins.'"

When Don finished reading the letter, Lynn was crying again, hugging the mittens, but her tears were silent, healing tears. "Sammy is transformed, Don, like the little sweater became mittens, he is an angel, safe with God..."

It was the beginning of Lynn's healing. She had a hard road ahead of her, and sometimes she had bad days, but on those days she'd take out those mittens and put them on and remember Sammy, and the love that had transformed her life.

What can we learn from this story?

• No matter how terrible the pain of our loss, we can find comfort and hope in love. Amelia's kind gift reminded Lynn that even though Sammy's little body had died his spirit lived on.
• Every one of us works through our grief in a different way. Don didn't understand that Lynn needed to feel close to Sammy to work through her grief and so he made a terrible mistake.

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