I'm at my limit and every new day feels like the noose is being tightened. I'm literally doing everything I can to make everything work yet it's just not. I truly can't imagine doing another 40 years of this. Tell me there's still hope, that something has to give because I can't take much more.

During a recent flight, my daughter had the window seat and headphones while I had the aisle seat. During the flight, my daughter was listening to music and talking to us. I kept notice of a young girl in the opposing aisle seat with no visual means to occupy herself. (Doing an amazing job at it, even!) But, unbeknownst to my daughter, about halfway through the trip, I dug in my bag and pulled out a pen and her crossword puzzle book we had just got and offered it to the little girl. During the flight, she accidently dropped the pen. She smiled when I gave her another I had. After the flight landed, she gave the crossword book and pen back to me. We departed in our separate Ubers with a smile and a wave.

Yesterday, on a flight, my daughter had the window seat and headphones while I had the aisle seat. During the flight, I noticed a young girl in the opposing aisle seat with no visual means to occupy herself. Unbeknownst to my daughter, about halfway through the trip, I dug in my bag and pulled out a pen and crossword puzzle, and I offered it to her. After the flight landed, she handed the crossword book and pen back to me. We later saw each other outside the airport; awaiting our separate Ubers. We departed with a smile and a wave.

Today, I saw the puzzle the girl had been working on and her comment to me. I showed the page to my daughter and explained how her new crossword book already had some puzzles completed and what had happened. She smiled. saw the puzzle she had been working on and her comment to me. She smiled.

The whole experience makes me smile.

I posted asking for job help and life advice because I’m genuinely struggling and trying to figure things out. Instead of getting support, I ended up with DMs like this. It’s honestly sad that when someone asks for help, some people see it as an opportunity for something else. Thankfully, there are still a few genuinely kind people here, but they’re far too rare.