Having a quick meal at McDonald’s is usually no big deal, right? But two strangers sitting down together is unusual, and one unusual such pair has gone viral for all the best reasons.
While having breakfast at McDonald’s with her colleagues, teacher Amanda Craft noticed an unlikely pair enjoying a meal together.
The older woman, known only as “Jan,” was sitting with a young man named Eric Haralson, aged 28, a young father from Nobesville, Indiana.
Amanda quickly took to Facebook to thank the pair for inspiring her and to tell the story of how this came about.
Shout out to this guy! This elderly lady (seemed to be a little lonely) came up to him and asked if she could sit with him. Without hesitation, this guy said “of course”. My friends and I watched him introduce himself and shake her hand. They talked and laughed together like they were friends. They didn’t know each other, and they couldn’t be more different. But today they shared a meal together and it touched our hearts.
Via ABC News:
“She looked lonely and she went up to Eric, sat the purse on the table and then asked if she could sit and eat with him,” Craft told “Good Morning America.” “He moved his food over and he said, ‘Well, sure.'”
In an interview with ABC News, Haralson said that Jan approached him to share breakfast with him not long after she’d tried and failed to have a conversation with a group of teenagers who were at the restaurant.
“One of the kids had a man bun and she was very intrigued by it and asked what made him come up with that hairstyle,” Haralson recalled. “They didn’t take to her that much…she said, ‘What? did I scare them off? I said, ‘I guess you did.'” (ABC)
They ended up talking for 45 minutes before exchanging phone numbers and parting ways.
“She goes to church every Sunday, we talked a lot about that. We talked about my girlfriend, my kids. She did not have any kids or a significant other that she made mention of,” Haralson told ABC News.
“I could tell she’s a firecracker. She will tell you exactly how she feels and has no problem being outgoing,” he said.
Haralson said he’ll definitely stay in touch with Jan, and has already called her to tell her that the photo of the two of them has gone viral.
“I don’t know if she has anyone else in her life and I want to reach out to her as much as I can,” Haralson said.
As of Thursday evening, the post has 6,500+ shares, 13,000 likes, and over a thousand comments.
It seems that Craft’s photo struck a chord. With all of the racial divides that are making news in our country, a good story about different people coming together to share a simple meal has inspired us all.