You know that feeling you get when you see a puppy with a butterfly on its nose? This story feels sort of like that.
Skylar Challand was traveling home to Nova Scotia with his family after having spent time in New York City for work. Mid-way through their 16-hour journey, they decided to stop for rest in Maine at a Hilton Garden Inn. Alas, one of the greatest tragedies of handheld gaming struck Skylar’s family the next day: They forgot their family’s only Nintendo Switch at the inn when they left.
Skylar called the inn to inform them of what occurred, and was relieved to hear that the staff had found his Switch and would be able to mail it back to him. Though he wasn’t yet aware of it, the employee who found his lost system happened to be an Animal Crossing fan named Ashli. When he received his Switch through the mail, he opened the case to find a letter that read:
“Good day! We saw that your game was still running! So, we saved it for you. That way you didn’t lose any progress! It also downloaded the new update for you. Have fun swimming and have a great summer!”
Drawn on the note were pictures of Isabelle, a small island, and a DoDo Airlines logo with a notice stating: “This package was delivered by: DAL.”
Forgot our Nintendo Switch in a hotel room in Maine, and @HiltonGardenInn was kind enough to ship it back to me. But I did not expect this note 🤯😭 pic.twitter.com/gq01Z8l5N3
— Skylar Challand (@sskylar) July 22, 2020
Touched by such a sweet letter, Skylar reached out to the Inn once again to thank them. He was eventually able to contact Ashli via Reddit to thank her personally and offer her a tip for her kindness. She politely declined the tip and told him: “I just wanted to make someone’s day a little nicer with everything going on.”
Now more than ever, small acts of kindness like this can mean the world to someone. While writing this article, I was reminded of a quote by Robin Williams: “Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind, always.” Ashli was a champion of kindness that day, and all of us here at Nintendo Wire hope that she has a double-portion of kindness headed back her way.
I hope this story has brightened your day and inspired you to reach out to others with kindness. Being kind to others can be as simple as complimenting someone, secretly paying for the order of the person behind you in a takeout line or just checking in on family and friends to let them know that you’re thinking of them.
Thank you so much for taking the time to visit our site and read this tale of kindness. Have an amazing week!
Written by Marcus Ramirez
A writer and dreamer who loves all things tropical, bright, colorful, and shiny. Marcus is obsessed with Kingdom Hearts and patiently awaits its triumphant return to Nintendo hardware. He has a (totally real) court order that requires him to always have a 3DS or Switch on his person when leaving the house for more than a few hours.
