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This man was grieving the loss of his mother. Obama showed up to help.

When sports writer Dave McKenna lost his mother in 2011, he got some support from an unexpected source.

In a video for Deadspin published in June 2018, McKenna spoke frankly about the suffering that accompanies such a staggering loss.

"It was to experience a level of grief that was almost exhilarating," he recounted. "Like nothing I'd ever been through."

McKenna also knew that he'd have to keep going, so one day he went to a coffee shop in D.C. to get his work done. 15 minutes in, a man interrupted him and told him he'd need to check his bag.

The reason? The president of the United States would soon be coming to see him.

"How did he know I was here?" McKenna joked to a fellow patron. But President Barack Obama really was on his way. A friend of McKenna's, Jay Carney, Obama's spokesperson at the time, had told the president about McKenna.

When Obama entered the coffee shop, he made a beeline for McKenna.

"He put his hand out," McKenna tears up, "and says, 'Jay told me about you. I went through this myself. You may not know this, you may not understand this, but things will get better. You can't believe this now, but they will get better."

McKenna had felt isolated in his grief, but Obama's words helped change that for him.

McKenna felt he would have to face his grief by himself. He'd seen other people go through the loss of a parent or loved one, and he understood that the world doesn't stop for anyone's pain.

Moments like the one between McKenna and Obama, though, remind us that we're not alone.

It's important to remember how meaningful it is when people show up for us in our moments of pain.

What Obama did was thoughtful and compassionate and shows that even the smallest kindness can help us heal. Not everyone has a president on speed dial, but that doesn't mean we can't show up for our friends, relatives, and extended social network during difficult times.

It doesn't take much — a phone call, a text, a workday lunch — to remind others we care, see all they are going through, and are here to support them no matter what.

With time and kindness, things really can get better.

Watch McKenna tell the full story of Obama's visit below:

Family

Korean mom has a perfect response to the teacher who called her son's lunches 'disgusting'

Good for her for standing up for her child's culture.

via Roman Harak/Flickr

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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parenting
Family

Ring doorbell video captures the phenomenon of what it's like to be the default parent

Millions of us know what it's like to be the "default parent."

Toniann Marchese/TikTok

Ring doorbell video captures what it's like to be the default parent.

Kids, man. I'm not sure of the scientific way audacity is distributed, but kids have a lot of it and somehow make it cute. That audacity overload is especially interesting when you're the default parent—you know, the parent kids go to for literally everything as if there's not another fully capable adult in the house. Chances are if your children haven't sought you out while you were taking a shower so you could open up a pack of fruit snacks, then you're not the default parental unit.

One parent captured exactly what it's like to be the default parent and shared it to TikTok, where the video has over 4 million views. Toniann Marchese went on a quick grocery run and *gasp* did not inform her children. Don't you fret, they're modern kids who know how to use modern means to get much-needed answers when mom is nowhere to be found. They went outside and rang the doorbell.

Back when we were children, this would've done nothing but make the dogs bark, but for Marchese's kids, who are 3 and 6 years old, it's as good as a phone call.

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parenting
Pop Culture

Woman was mocked online for calling an $80 purse a 'luxury item.' Her response went viral.

"I'm so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money.”

@zohtaco/TikTok

Zoe Gabriel, showing off her new purse from Charles & Keith

Insults of any kind are painful, but jabs towards someone’s financial status are their own breed.

In January 2023, Singapore-based Zoe Gabriel was on the receiving end of this particular flavor of mockery when she posted a TikTok about a purse from local retail brand Charles & Keith—a gift bought for her by her father.

In her excitement, the 17-year-old called the bag, which costs around $80, a “luxury” item as she unwrapped it. Her excitement was sadly cut short by some of the negative comments she received.

One comment seemed to stand out above the rest and prompted Gabriel to post an emotional response video.

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internet
Pop Culture

'American Idol' contestant has perfect response to Katy Perry's 'mom-shaming' joke

The 25-year-old used the moment to stand up for moms everywhere.

@sarabethliebe/TikTok

"Keep loving your babies."

You might recall us singing the praises of Sara Beth, the exuberant young mom with major vocal chops dubbed the “Accidental American Idol.”

During Sara Beth’s initial audition for the show, judge Katy Perry made a joke that rubbed many viewers the wrong way.

Before Sara Beth even began to sing, the 25-year-old revealed that she had three children, which prompted Katy Perry to dramatically stand up from her seat and feign shock. When Sara Beth, all smiles, said, “If Katy lays on the table, I think I’m going to pass out,” Perry retorted, “Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much.”

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celebrity
Pop Culture

These incredible acoustic cameras can actually see sound

Here's how they work.

via Steve Mould/YouTube

YouTube creator Steve Mould shows us what echo looks like through an acoustic camera.

It’s bizarre to think about seeing sound, but nowadays we can do just that. If you haven’t seen an acoustic camera before, that’s because they’re mainly used for industrial purposes, but they’ve been available commercially from gfai tech since 2001.

YouTuber Steve Mould, who has a science channel with over 2.1 million subscribers, took the complicated concept of the acoustic camera and made it easy to understand in his latest video, “Acoustic cameras can SEE sound.”

In the video, Mould explains how an acoustic camera is much like your smartphone's video recorder. But it also creates visual representations of sound emanating from where it’s generated within the video.

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technology
Family

Dad gives his young daughter a 'spa day' while mom and sister are out and people are gushing

"This healed a part of me. Thank you for doing this with your daughter."

Mason Smith/Instagram

Mason Smith pampered his baby girl during her "spa day."

Raising kids is no small feat. Just the basic logistics of caring for a human being from their helpless newborn stage to the full-fledged adult stage is a lot, much less doing the countless other things that will actually help that human thrive.

Parents who go above and beyond to create a nurturing environment and build strong core memories with their kids are inspiring examples for us all, and one dad's spa day with his daughter has people positively gushing.

Mason Smith (@thedadsocial) shared a video of a special spa day he gave his young daughter when her mom and older sister were having their own pampered outing. "Mom and sister went to the salon so I couldn't have her feeling left out," he wrote.

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dads and daughters
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