 Grieving mom makes an impossible choice that pays off thanks to an elderly couple. Nine months is a long time to wait for a kid to be born, so you might as well take that time to make some careful preparations. Buy a crib, pick out a name, start making plans for how the little kiddos going to get taken care of the baby will thank you. Valerie what's of Cacado, Minnesota, had been through that whole kid prep once before, so when she and her fiance started gearing up for El Nino number two, they very much knew the tune and steps to that song and dance. This time around however, an unexpected complication opened the door to a touching journey of healing and human kindness that all started with a crib. Sometime in autumn, doctors gave 28-year-old Valerie what's and her fiance, Jimmy Hamlin, knew the young couple had been hoping for, they were pregnant with their second child a baby boy. He would make a fine addition to their little family, the parents of a seven-year-old daughter, Nevea, knew, so they picked out a name. They would call him Noah and they eagerly went to work putting together a nursery for him. Over the ensuing nine full months of the pregnancy, the couple bought light blue baby clothes. They collected teddy bears, toys and a snug white crib for Noah to sleep in. Days before she was due however, Valerie stopped feeling the soft kicks and subtle stirrings of the baby in her womb. All week I knew something was off, the mother recalled. I was very nervous. Her nerves, as it turned out, were warranted. Hours after doctors performed a caesarean section on the worried mother, they met with Valerie and Jimmy to deliver some terrible news. Baby Noah didn't make it. He had no heartbeat. The umbilical cord, doctors theorized, had become compressed in the womb, making it impossible for the necessary nutrients and oxygen to make it to the fetus. Over the next few months, the devastated couple did what anyone who lost a child would. They grieved, imagining life with a child that never was by day, while enduring nightmares where they saw his smiling face by night. Meanwhile, that nursery full of teddy bears, clothes, and the tiny white crib was a painful reminder of a stolen future, so, still grieving, the parents organized a garage sale to sell off the never used toys and gear. Valerie laid out all of Noah's shirts and booties. She propped up his toys on fold-out tables. Neighbors and passersby picked through all of it. The little white crib, however, was not for sale. The crib was too personal, too real, and selling it, Valerie thought, would be a far too painful process. She tucked it away in the corner of the garage, where it went mostly unnoticed until Gerald and Lorene Cumpula showed up. See, Gerald had a hobby, he was a craftsman who liked to make things out of worn headboards. When the 75-year-old saw the crib in the corner, and all its pristine, recyclable would he knew he had to make an offer. At first, Valerie refused to sell the crib, but she reconsidered when she learned about the craftsman's hobby. I was a little bit at peace with selling it, she said, because he'd be making something nice. Knowing the long-term pain of keeping it would eventually outdo the sharp pain of selling, Valerie relented and sold the white crib to Gerald for two dollars. He was happy with the sale, until he talked to Lorene on the car right home. In the car, Lorene recalled an experience at the garage sale. After seeing the spread of clothes and toys, she had thought Valerie was simply selling clothes her son outgrew. So she asked how old her son was now. This was when Valerie told Lorene her story about Noah. So, to Lorene, driving away with the crib didn't sit right. And when she told her husband what she knew, he agreed especially considering the Kumpula family history. As parents to 15 children, below, they knew what a child meant to a young mother, and as grandparents who'd lost a grandchild, they knew, at least partially, what the loss of a child can do to a family. So the Kumpulas, feeling almost like robbers getting away with a prized property, agreed the crib needed to return to Valerie and Jimmy. Still, Gerald knew it couldn't go back to them in its current form. He needed to work his craftsman's magic. Gerald brought the crib into his workshop. There, pieces of wood lay on the floor, half-finished benches lined the walls, and one of his more ambitious projects in ATV made out of PVC pipes sat amid a daydream-worthy tool collection. The retired grandfather started tinkering away at the little white crib, cutting and measuring wood, hammering nails, and mixing paint. When finished, he knew Valerie would be delighted. A week later, Gerald finished his project. He loaded what was once a crib into his car and drove it back to Valerie's and Jimmy's home, where he presented his reworked vision to the couple. With incredible handiwork, Gerald turned the crib once relegated to spend a lifetime in the corner of a dark garage into a bright, beautiful bench a memorial to the beautiful life taken too soon. This, Gerald figured, was the perfect way to honor the boy he never knew. An unused crib is a sad reminder, he said. A bench is more of a memorial. It's part of that sad happening, yet it's not a reminder like an empty crib would be. There was no video of this presentation. No one jotted down or recorded Valerie's and Jimmy's reactions. But there is little doubt that on that summer's day, the couple cried and celebrated the bench between them. Valerie offered Gerald money, money for his time, money for his work, money for being so kind in a sometimes painfully cruel world. He declined any payment. It's just nice to be able to do something for someone, he said. It's nice to help people. And so it was that Valerie and Jimmy had a new living room decoration. The bench sat beside a bookcase, which supported photos of Noah, his handprints, his footprints, and an urn of his ashes. It all helps the family cope. In a way, when I'm sitting in it, I feel comforted by his presence, even though he's not here, Valerie said. It's like a peaceful, it's okay type feeling. When I feel down, I can sit on the bench and I feel okay. Everything's going to be okay. In times of great pain, kind gestures big and small can go a long way in mending sullen hearts. This was the lesson learned by Valerie, as well as Debbie and Sean Riddle, a married couple from Fort Worth, Texas. In 2015, they both became parents to a gorgeous little girl they named Glory Alice Riddle. Their bright-eyed bundle of joy always accompanied them to one of their favorite spots to eat in Fort Worth, a place that made them feel like they were part of the family. It was a diner called the West Side Cafe. The joint was always full of locals who knew each other, and ITT was a great location to bring visiting family and friends. The food always reminded Debbie and Sean of home cooking. Besides the food and other patrons, the couple loved how friendly the wait staff was to every guest. It was a bustling place almost all the time, but the employees always took the time to chat. Sean and Debbie had one particular waitress who they grew close to. Her name was Kayla Lane, and she was one of the most popular employees at the West Side Cafe. She remembered faces and details about her customers' lives, and for months, she always saw Debbie and Sean come into the diner with Glory. Before Glory was ever born, Debbie and Sean had gotten to know Kayla well, and she jumped at the chance to wait on them when they came in. Debbie and Sean were two of the most cheerful people, but one morning, their demeanors were different. Debbie and Sean both came to eat, but Glory wasn't with them. The couple was far from their cheerful outgoing selves, as well. Kayla approached them and started chatting, and her heart immediately sank. When she asked about Glory, Debbie and Sean hesitated for a moment, and then told Kayla that Glory had passed away just a few weeks earlier. She fell victim to sudden infant death syndrome, and doctors had no idea why. Kayla was heartbroken for the couple. But, she also felt mortified that she brought up such a painful event. She couldn't have known, of course, but the fact the couple needed to relieve the memory right there in the diner upset Kayla to no end. Kayla herself didn't have any children, but she was an aunt to a precious little boy, and she couldn't imagine what it would be like to have a young child suddenly stripped away. So, she decided to do something special for the couple. When Debbie and Sean were finished eating, instead of dropping the usual check on their table, Kayla dropped a slip of paper with a message of blessing. Kayla herself even paid the couple's bill out of her own pocket. Debbie and Sean were touched by the act of generosity. The couple, even though still distraught by the loss of their daughter, managed to smile at the kindness Kayla and the rest of the diner employees offered. They even wanted to pay Kayla's act of kindness forward. But how? After chatting with the manager, Debbie and Sean discovered Kayla was working at the cafe to help fund her way through school so that she could eventually become a teacher. This gave Debbie an idea. Her inspiration came from one of the onesies that Glory used to wear. It read, kisses 25 cents, I'm saving for my college fund. Debbie knew Kayla was far from the only young employee at the cafe trying to make it through college and expenses for school were often extreme. So, she started something to help. It was a scholarship program in memory of little Glory. Debbie and Sean figured this would be a perfect way to return the kind favor Kayla did for them. Also, it wouldn't only help Kayla, but other students as well. The fund would also mean the memory of Glory would live on outside of the Riddle household, which was more than either parent could have ever asked for. She was a special girl who left the world far too soon, but now people would always think of her when they ate at the West Side Cafe. Kayla's selfless act of paying for the check was in no way done to receive some kind of reciprocity. So, she was floored when the Riddles came back with such a generous offer. She said she was eternally grateful for the entire experience. While the memory of Glory will live on for years to come through Debbie, Sean, and the scholarship fund, the parents also want mother and fathers to be made aware of sudden infant death syndrome. It can happen to anyone, so the more people know, the safer their young ones can stay. As tragic as it was for Kayla to find out Glory had passed away, the events that followed afterward were somewhat like a blessing in disguise. Kayla truly had a great heart, and she just wanted to try to alleviate whatever stress she could in the lives of a grieving couple.