Parents feel their children’s struggles as if they were their own.
When someone makes them smile, that person suddenly becomes your superhero.
Megan Haas and her family were checking in at a Hampton Inn in Pennsylvania and manager Kahlief Hill was at the front desk.
Hill was on the phone when Haas’ son, Colin, asked him if he wanted to see a card trick. Instead of ignoring the 13-year-old boy’s question, Hill agreed and spent time entertaining him. They also swapped card tricks, making Colin very happy.
Speaking about the incident he didn’t expect to go viral, Hill told WHNT: “I said, ‘Why not? I’m on hold. I have time.’”
That wasn’t the end of their fun. The next day, Hill started a conversation with the teen again.
“The next night they came in from dinner. I said, ‘Hello, how are you?’ I said, ‘How are you doing with the magic trick I showed you yesterday?’ He said, ‘I can’t remember.’ I said, ‘Come back out, I’ll show you again.’”
To the manager, it was a friendly gesture, but to Haas, it was everything. She later told Hill that his kindness meant everything to them.
Haas wrote on Facebook: “See this guy right here? His name is Kahlief. At some point in time on Friday night, while working at the front desk at the Hampton Inn, Kahlief looked up to find a random kid standing in front of him asking if he’d like to see a card trick. Let me tell you all the stuff Kahlief didn’t know.
“He didn’t know that this little boy has autism. That learning and doing card tricks is a passion of his because it helps to quiet and focus his brain as well as keep his hands busy. He didn’t know that this little boy lost his dad a few years ago, has been on the waiting list for a ‘big brother’ for well over two years now, and lives with only his mom and sister, so very much misses interacting with male figures.
“Kahlief didn’t know any of that, and was still kind enough to say ‘yes’. He very easily could have told Colin he was busy, or to come back later, or any number of things, but he didn’t.
“He allowed Colin to hang out at the desk with him for what felt like forever, watching Colin do card tricks and then showing Colin some tricks that he knew as well. He paused when he needed to, when the phone rang or a customer came in, (in the pic he is on the phone, the person he was speaking to had him on hold), but he never once made Colin feel like he was a nuisance or a burden.
“In fact, when we saw that he had returned for another shift the following day, he made it a point to let Colin know he was geared up and ready to go with more card tricks. So this kind man took time out of his day again on Saturday, still not realizing what a huge impact he was having on Colin, because he was still completely unaware of all the things about Colin he did not know.”
Hill started getting a lot of friend requests and that’s when he realized what had happened. “That post popped up, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God,’ and I instantly started crying,” Hill expressed.
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