A 96-year-old lady couldn’t stay in her cottage anymore because she had to go to a care home. Instead of leaving it empty, she gave her cottage to a homeless person who lived nearby. He really needed a place to live, so he moved in happily. But what he discovered inside the cottage was amazing....CONTINUE READING
Steven was really excited to stand in front of his new house. He couldn’t believe it was finally his. Even though he had been there many times before, it still felt like the first time. But there was a surprise waiting for him inside. There was a big suitcase on the table with his name on it. He opened it slowly and was amazed by what he found inside. He couldn’t believe someone had done this for him.
To understand why all of this happened, let’s talk about Ellie Barnes. She was a 96-year-old lady who lived in rural Alaska. She loved the area and had been there her whole life. She also loved her husband, Peter, and they had been together for 72 years.
Ellie enjoyed the peaceful life in the open land, especially sitting on the porch with Peter. But one day, Peter passed away unexpectedly, and Ellie was shocked. She had never really thought about what would happen if Peter died first, as he had always been healthier.
Now she had to figure out how to live without him. Ellie’s children had moved far away from Alaska to places like Boston and Dallas. They offered to take Ellie in, but she didn’t want to leave her beloved Alaska or the simple life she had there. She felt a deep connection to her home and her memories there.
Ellie had moved to Alaska as a young child and met Peter on her first day of school. As they grew, Ellie dreamed about marrying Peter and starting a magnificent life together. And once they were married, Ellie and Peter struggled to find steady work. Instead of Ellie’s dream home, all they could afford was a small rancher with a single bedroom and a tiny living area.
They tried to make it work by saving for repairs as often as possible. By the time Peter passed away, it felt like the house had been patched and mended a million times. Ellie knew that any reasonable person would have demolished it by that point, but there were too many memories to let it go.
With winter coming soon, Ellie needed help making sure that the house could survive another year of snow. Luckily, Ellie was able to get help from one of her neighbors who lived a 10-minute walk away. They’d been friendly for years and offered to see what they could do.
When Ellie’s neighbors had trouble of their own, Ellie’s neighbors were getting up in age and couldn’t do a lot of the manual labor that Ellie needed to fix the house. They also had to worry about their son Steven, who moved home with them a couple of years before after being homeless.
Steven struggled to find a job in the rural area where he lived. He couldn’t earn enough to move out on his own. He had the strength and skills to help Ellie with tasks around her house that his parents couldn’t manage.
Even though Ellie tried to pay him, he always refused because he felt he owed her a debt. They had met during tough times when Steven first came back to town. People judged him for being homeless, and he felt isolated. However, Ellie and Peter welcomed him and even invited him for dinner.
Steven wanted to repay her kindness, so he started helping Ellie with various chores around her house. Not knowing that this decision would change his life forever. Steven continued to care for Ellie by doing grocery shopping, fixing her house, and completing repairs. Their bond grew stronger since Steven refused money. Ellie would cook him dinner and make him warm scarves for the winter.
But Steven’s parents were not happy that their son was working for Ellie without pay. Steven spent so much time helping Ellie that he didn’t have time to look for a job. His parents told him he had to choose between helping Ellie and living at home because they couldn’t support him if he didn’t try to support himself.
Steven understood but was surprised that his parents weren’t more understanding considering Ellie’s kindness. He had to make a decision. Steven told his parents that he couldn’t leave Ellie, as she was his only friend, and they had spent months together. His parents asked him to leave, not wanting him to be homeless again.
Steven was at a crossroads. He knew he could find better job opportunities in a bigger city, but that would mean leaving Ellie. He decided to move away for his own good, and his parents were happy about it. He felt sad about saying goodbye to Ellie, who was also devastated by his decision.
Ellie struggled without Steven’s help, as she had grown dependent on him. Her family insisted that she moved to a retirement home near them after learning about her injury. Ellie, though initially against the idea, realized it was the best choice. She understood that her attempts to live alone were risky and only worried her family, so she decided to leave the home she had lived in for 6 years.
Now Ellie had to decide what to do with her house. Selling it wouldn’t bring much money, and she believed only one person deserved it—Steven. She hired a lawyer to ensure a smooth transfer of the house and to inform Steven, as she couldn’t do it herself due to her health. She wanted everything to be clear to him through the lawyer.
Ellie wasn’t sure if Steven wanted her old house, but that didn’t matter much to her. She knew he wanted what she left inside for him. The house was like a trick to hide the real gift Ellie wanted to surprise Steven with.
When Steven got a call from a lawyer, he was very surprised and didn’t know what to do. He never thought Ellie would give him her cherished house. He wondered why she did it. Was there something more to her decision? Steven was almost too generous. He had a feeling that maybe his parents had influenced Ellie’s decision. Perhaps they wanted him to live closer to home again.
Living in the big city had been tough for Steven, and he had been homeless for a while. But despite the challenges, he felt more comfortable in the big city and wanted to stay there. With the money from selling the house, he hoped to have a better start in the city. At least that was his initial plan.
He called the lawyer back to tell him that he accepted the offer and owned the house. But he also asked if he could help him sell it. But then the lawyer informed him that the only condition was that he would visit the house at least once. Steven was somewhat taken aback and very confused by the strange condition. He wanted an explanation, but the lawyer couldn’t elaborate any further on it.
Steven’s next move was to call Ellie. He, of course, wanted to thank her for giving him the house and wanted to know how she was doing. Why had she moved out of the house? But he also hoped she could give him an explanation for this strange condition. But Steven couldn’t get a hold of her, no matter how often he tried. The phone just kept going to voicemail.
Suddenly, Steven started to worry. Could something have happened to her? Was that why he was getting the house? Could it be an inheritance? He first thought that Ellie maybe wanted to restore the bond between him and his parents, and that’s why he had to show up. Still very unsure, Steven decided he would travel to the house the very next day. The lawyer had paid for the transport to the house.
When Steven arrives in town, he goes straight to Ellie’s house. He doesn’t want his parents to know that he’s there. When he enters the house with the keys he picked up from the lawyer, he is surprised by the two new locks on the door. At first, it seems like there’s nothing else different about the place. But then he spots that there’s a large suitcase placed on the dining table.
Unsure if this was left here for him, he approaches the suitcase and quickly sees that his name was written on it. Steven realizes this was Ellie’s doing, as he recognized the handwriting. When he opened the suitcase, he quickly discovered it was full of small envelopes. Steven picked out one of the envelopes at random. It read “For Groceries,” then a couple of others for fixing the gutter, for cleaning the kitchen, for taking her for a walk—things that Steven had done for Ellie and Peter over the years.
But now comes the best part. In the envelopes was money—bills ranging from $10 to $20, and even $50 at some point. After Steven unpacked all of them and counted the money, he concluded it came out to a total of $155,000. Still in shock, Steven decided to try and give Ellie a call again. To his surprise, she did pick up the phone this time.
Ellie told Steven that he had earned all the money she gave him in the past 2 years, but he never took it. So, she wanted to repay him for all the kindness and help he had shown her. This made Steven very emotional. The money Ellie gave him would change his life, and he was also relieved that Ellie was still alive.
With the money, Steven moved to Anchorage and got an apartment. Having a stable place to live helped him turn his life around. He quickly found a job and moved up the ranks at work. He also met his girlfriend, and they now live together and plan to start a family.
As time passed, Steven’s relationship with his parents improved, and he visits them once a month. He still owns Ellie’s house and rents it to a local couple who are starting their own family there. He also takes care of Ellie’s house when he’s in town.
