What started as a sweet date night idea for two high school seniors turned into a viral moment of kindness that’s now touching hearts around the world.
Liliana Vera and Evan Jekubovich, both seniors at Southington High School in Connecticut, were simply trying to celebrate their four-month anniversary with a little joy, but not just for themselves. Inspired by a TikTok video, the couple had a different kind of romantic plan: one that bloomed with compassion.
Instead of heading to dinner or the movies, they made a pit stop at Target to pick up flowers, notecards, and pens. But these weren’t for each other. They were for strangers. People who might be having the worst day of their lives.
“We just wanted to inspire other people how we were inspired,” Vera told NBC Connecticut. “We didn’t expect it to go viral.”
With arms full of flowers and hearts full of hope, they drove to Hartford Hospital and began placing bouquets and handwritten notes on the windshields of cars in the parking lot. Each message was short, sweet, and soul-soothing:
“One step at a time.”
“Get better.”
“You’ll get through this.”
They even handed extra flowers to the parking garage attendant, spreading kindness to every corner they could reach.
One of those corners belonged to Amel Zubeidy. She had just spent another difficult night at the hospital with her daughter, who had been admitted for 10 days.
“I went to go home after a very, very difficult day,” Zubeidy said. “And when I got to the parking lot and saw two purple flowers with a note, it was a surprise. When I read the note, it was so nice. It gave me [a] feeling like someone felt my pain without knowing anything. It told me, you are not alone.”
That’s exactly the kind of quiet magic Vera and Jekubovich were hoping for.
“My mom is a nurse as well,” Jekubovich said. “So I hear a lot of stories about what goes on in a hospital. I think it was important to just post something that’s inspiring online so people can see that other people are doing good so they can do good too.”
@lilivspamm 💌💐
Vera added, “We both know how it is to visit people in a hospital, be in the hospital, and it’s nice to have something nice when you’re leaving when something hard is happening to you. I hope that it inspires others to do better and be the better version of themselves.”
It was just a little date. A few flowers. A couple of notes.
But in a world that often feels heavy, these two teens gave us all something beautiful to carry: the reminder that kindness can grow anywhere, even in a hospital parking lot.
