The Heart

With Christmas just a couple of days away, gift-giving is on everyone’s mind. We want to wrap up stuff for our loved ones that feels useful, thoughtful, and, most importantly, meaningful.

That’s why, when Lisa Graff sent me this story about the gift her best friend and fellow teacher, Maddie Fennell, gave to her dying husband, Bill, I knew it was the perfect encapsulation of the season.

The gift was a long-hoped-for trip to France… not for Bill to enjoy the sights and sounds of the beautiful country, but to honor a lifelong promise Bill made to his best friend before his passing.

The Journey

As the symptoms of Lewy body dementia started to take their toll on Bill a few years ago, he began to reminisce about his best friend Cal, who had died in 2020 from cancer. The memory that most persisted through the fog of his disease was his promise to fulfill Cal’s biggest regret — not visiting his cousin Gregory Hanson’s grave at Normandy, where he died on D-Day in WWII.

Bill called it his “mission.”

Maddie could sense that the promise was weighing on Bill… and he was running out of time to see it through. So, with her friend Lisa’s support, Maddie organized a trip — no small feat considering that Bill used a wheelchair and was told by doctors that he only had a couple of weeks to live. But Maddie — the executive director of the national teachers hall of fame and whose word you can always count on — told Lisa that she “needed to give this gift to him.”

Amazingly, Bill started to improve, gaining more lucid than non-lucid days. “I think he rallied to show us how badly he wanted to go,” Maddie told me. So, a few months ago, Bill, Maddie, and Lisa set off on the journey.

The Turning Point

Finally, in Normandy, the trio first stopped at Omaha Beach — the battleground where Cal’s cousin bravely lost his life. Bill couldn’t make it down the steep steps to the beach, so he asked if Lisa would be kind enough to collect some sand for him. Of course, Lisa did.

Visiting several of the cemeteries in the area, they were overwhelmed by the “endless rows of crosses and Stars of David.” Finding Gregory’s grave, they held a quiet ceremony. The white marble marker was almost unreadable until they brushed it with some of the sand collected by Lisa. That filled Bill with emotion.

“That was his mission,” Lisa said. “He completed it.”

The Takeaway

Bill told Maddie and Lisa that visiting Cal’s grave “was the most important thing that had ever happened to him.”

Lisa calls what Bill did a “mitzvah.” It’s the idea in Judaism of doing something good for its own sake — a practice that can do as much good in the world as it can for your own soul. It’s a word this Catholic-raised boy didn’t know before, but it perfectly encapsulates my mission for the community we’re building with this newsletter.

It’s a reminder that giving gifts — whether wrapped in paper or a promise fulfilled — can have a greater impact on the giver than on the receiver. Maybe that’s why, back home, Bill seems to have more peace of mind. It’s the gift of a burden lifted.

Still, Maddie had one last gift… she made him a picture book of their trip, so that, even as his mind continues to fade, he could always look back at the final act of good he did for his lifelong buddy.

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❤️ A small-business owner chose mercy over retribution when two kids stole a bracelet from her store.

✈️ California teen Arjun Malaviya has stunned the world by visiting 118 countries solo… all before turning 20.

🛻 Do Good shared this dad’s heartwarming reaction to his son buying him the truck of his dreams… and it’s priceless.

Rock and roll icon Elvis Presley is famous for a lot of things… but maybe not as well-known as he should be for his generosity. In 1975, a 33-year-old bank teller named Mennie Person was peering into a custom Cadillac Seville just outside of a dealership in Memphis, Tennessee. She was startled when a familiar voice asked if she liked it — it was none other than The King. Mennie, starstruck, managed to say that she did. Elvis responded, “That one's mine, but I'll buy you one.” And he was serious, writing a check for $11,500 to get her the gold-and-white model she had her eyes on. And when Elvis overheard that Mennie’s birthday was coming up, he even wrote a check to buy her some clothes too.

For me, the best gift this Christmas is not having to get on a plane. There was a time when being home for the holidays made me feel like I was missing out — now it feels like a luxury.

Like many of you, I’m still doing some last-minute shopping and trying to pull things together. We haven’t even put up a tree yet! I told my partner, Jeremy, maybe we could skip it this year… he looked at me like I’d lost my mind. He’s right, of course. This is my favorite time of year, after all.

We’ll be hosting Christmas for the first time in our new home, and even with all the chaos, I’m trying to take a breath and be grateful. For this home. For this season. And for you, the community we’ve built through this newsletter.

I started this to celebrate stories of people doing good. What I didn’t expect was how much I’d need those stories, too. I hope they bring you the same joy they bring me.

Merry Christmas!