Florida State University's football team paid a visit to a Tallahassee middle school Tuesday, and one player's random act of kindness made one mother smile.
Travis Rudolph, a member of the FSU team, saw one little boy sitting by himself and decided to join him for lunch. But what Rudolph probably didn't know was that sitting by himself wasn't anything new for sixth-grader Bo Paske, who has autism.
In an emotional Facebook post, Bo's mother, Leah Paske, thanked Rudolph for taking time out to sit with her son:
Now that I have a child starting middle school, I have feelings of anxiety for him, and they can be overwhelming if I let them. Sometimes I'm grateful for his autism. That may sound like a terrible thing to say, but in some ways I think, I hope, it shields him. He doesn't seem to notice when people stare at him when he flaps his hands. He doesn't seem to notice that he doesn't get invited to birthday parties anymore. And he doesn't seem to mind if he eats lunch alone. It's one of my daily questions for him. Was there a time today you felt sad? Who did you eat lunch with today? Sometimes the answer is a classmate, but most days it's nobody.
She then went on to thank Rudolph for making her son's day.
"I'm not sure what exactly made this incredibly kind man share a lunch table with my son, but I'm happy to say that it will not soon be forgotten," Paske wrote. "This is one day I didn't have to worry if my sweet boy ate lunch alone, because he sat across from someone who is a hero in many eyes."
Read the full post below: