Alyssa Hacker, a mom from Oklahoma, had a few minutes to kill on Saturday, September 16, so she popped into a local Target with her 18-month-old son, Owen. She left with three dinosaurs and an amazing story.
“This momma just cried in the middle of Target,” Hacker began in a Facebook post published that day. She went on to recall how Owen grabbed three stuffed animals and was trying to pick out which one he wanted to take home, when an elderly man caught his attention.
“Owen abruptly yelled ‘HI,’ Hacker wrote. The man replied, “Hey, sweet boy” and began playing dinosaurs with Owen.
“With this crazy world we live in I was a little hesitant as to how close he was with Owen,” Hacker admitted in her post. But then the stranger did something incredible: he took out his wallet and removed a $20 bill. “He put it in Owen’s pocket on his shirt and said, ‘I just lost my 2-year-old grandson last week,’” wrote Hacker. While rubbing Owen’s back and wiping away tears he instructed Hacker to “buy this boy all three dinosaurs.”
“After Owen yelled ‘thank you’’ the gentleman turned around and yelled ‘boomer sooner!’” Hacker shared. “There is still some good in this world.”
The post, which features an adorable picture of Owen with his dinosaurs at Target, has been liked more than 326,000 times and shared more than 124,000 times.
“I didn’t start crying until after he walked off. I couldn’t help it,” Hacker tells Us Weekly. As for Owen, he is enamored with his new toys: “He is always carrying around one of the dinosaurs.”
