Lindsey Sheely of West Warwick, Rhode Island, ordered delivery from her favorite restaurant, Wicked Good Pizza, on February 15, 2020. Cohen, her then two-year-old son, ran out to the porch to say goodbye to the delivery man after she paid for the food. Our children can take us by surprise in a variety of ways. In the case of Cohen, a toddler, he made what his parents thought was a “sweet and funny” gesture, but it turned out to mean more to the recipient.
The child held a package of ranch dressing in one hand and extended his other arm for a hug. The pizza delivery man paused to lean into the boy’s embrace before saying, “Enjoy your pizza! ” The excited toddler even tried to kiss him, but his mother told him to blow kisses instead. Sheely’s doorbell camera captured the adorable interaction. She shared the video on Facebook and Instagram the next day.
“It was so sweet and funny to us,” she wrote. “I hope it makes you laugh and warms your heart as much as it did for us.” Then she got a message from a man named Ryan Catterson, who said he saw the video and was in charge of their ordered delivery. He worked as a pizza delivery man. Catterson said he saw the doorbell camera footage through a mutual friend and asked if he could share it on Facebook.
When Sheely visited his profile, she was shocked to see a GoFundMe page for Catterson’s 16-year-old daughter, Alyssa, who died unexpectedly just a week before. “It touched me because it felt like she was there after I lost my daughter last week.” “It just meant a lot to me,” Catterson said of Cohen’s actions. Sheely described her son’s hug for Catterson as a “little blessing from God.”
“I believe in divine appointments and know that Ryan was meant to deliver our pizza,” she explained. Catterson feels the same way. “It was just the right timing, I had been telling my kids and the whole family how much I needed hugs before they came, and then that sweet little boy gave me one,” he told NBC 10 News. “It was almost as if the universe or my daughter had foreseen it and forwarded it to me.”
Sheely’s Facebook post was updated to include a link to Catterson’s GoFundMe page for Alyssa, encouraging her friends and family to contribute. “I couldn’t believe this guy was going through such a traumatic experience, but his life was still going on.” “His life had to go on, and he still had to work and do his job,” she explained to the outlet. “You never know what people are dealing with.” This is a great example of that.”
Catterson stated that her daughter used to live in California with his ex-wife, Danielle McCord. Cohen’s seemingly insignificant gesture, according to McCord, had a profound impact on Alyssa’s father. “It’s so easy to miss people and their internal pain,” she said of the child’s actions. Even with our daughter, we had no idea how she felt. “I can’t help but be thankful that someone saw his pain and was able to help him,” she said.
Alyssa was said to have struggled with mental health issues as a child. Cohen’s hug lasted only a few seconds for Catterson, but it was a moment he will remember forever. Who knew that a simple restaurant delivery order could lead to something special? “If I could tell the world one thing,” Catterson said in a written statement to Sheely, “it’s to make sure you check on your kids constantly, because you never know what they might be struggling with internally.”
This father may never be able to see and hug his daughter again, but he knows Alyssa will make him feel her love in other ways, just like she did with this sweet little boy. In the video below, you can learn more about this touching story..