The heartwarming story about a birthday cake and an incredible gesture of kindness

It’s an incredible story about the kindness of strangers that’s having an impact in Calgary and beyond.

Morgan Haigler shared her recent experience at a local Marble Slab Creamery, and it has been getting quite a lot of attention.

Haigler ordered a cake for her sister’s birthday from the Royal Oak location. When her husband picked it up, there was a note attached that read: “Our son passed away… Today is his birthday. Because we can’t buy him a cake, we bought yours. Happy Birthday.”

It’s a message that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.

“My heart tugged at me when I read this as I realized that commemorating a son’s birthday on a day you can’t physically celebrate with him in person must be especially hard,” Haigler wrote in her social media post.

“And yet, his parents still had so much kindness and love in their hearts to do something special for someone they never met.”

Bringing joy in a time of sorrow

At first, Haigler thought perhaps the owner of the ice cream shop had made the gesture.

She and her husband bought a thank-you and sympathy card and a token of gratitude and returned to the store to drop it off.

That’s when they were told it was a customer who wanted to pay for a cake in honour of their late son.

“I know that really took a lot of strength for them to go into a random shop and order a cake for a complete stranger on one of the happiest yet saddest days they would remember for the rest of their lives,” Haigler wrote.

“Still yet, it satisfied them to bring great joy to someone even if this day brought them deep sorrow.”

Touching hearts near and far

Haigler’s post has received hundreds of likes and shares and has prompted others to tell their own stories.

“I never anticipated it would grow this quickly and so huge, so fast,” Haigler tells Calgary Citizen.

“All I wanted to do was possibly reach out within my little sector of the community and see if maybe they would see the post themselves and reach back. I’ve been overwhelmed by the responses and the stories people have shared have also been really touching.”

Haigler believes the story is particularly gripping because it demonstrates a level of kindness you don’t experience every day.

“For someone to set aside their grief to make someone’s day special and memorable in a very different way, speaks volumes about the kind of people that they are.

“Without even realizing it, their son’s memory and the good deed that they did didn’t just highlight one person’s day, but it looks like it has the power to create a ripple effect for our community and even nationwide as well.”

A rare and impactful moment

Haigler is grateful that sharing her experience has had such a positive impact and feels the universe was at work.

“I actually tried to order the cake online and I wasn’t able to complete it. So I had to phone in and had that not happened, this wouldn’t have happened,” she says.

Haigler would love to meet the kind stranger who paid for her sister’s birthday cake in person to thank them properly.

“If that’s not possible, I just want to say that my family and I extend our heartfelt thanks to them for their kind gesture. And we really empathize greatly with their loss.”

The message Haigler hopes people will get out of her story is this:

“Life is too short. Quality time with family is of the essence. Spreading kindness around like confetti should happen spontaneously and abundantly. Don’t take small opportunities to see and express yourself fully with loved ones for granted. There are few times we have in life to make rare and impactful moments count.”