No one makes it through life without regrets. It is an unfortunate by-product of being human. And while we learn to live with them, it can be hard to let them go.
But luckily for one woman, there’s one regret that no longer haunts her. And it’s all thanks to the kindness of a stranger halfway across the world.
A Missed Opportunity
Woman running down a green hill.
X.com/@celiabedelia
When Celia Robbins’ 14-year-old daughter asked, “Do you ever have any regrets, Mom?” the mother of four knew she meant it in a big, life-changing, philosophical kind of way.
But only one thing came to mind. And it wasn’t wishing she had taken more risks, completed a university degree, or chosen a different career path.
It was a puffin sweater.
Three years ago, Celia saw the knitted sweater in a small store while traveling in Iceland. She loved it so much she took a picture of it. But the price was steep — close to $250. She didn’t buy it, instead settling for a pair of puffin socks.
It turned out to be one of her life’s regrets. She even tried returning to the shop a year later, hoping it would still be there. It wasn’t.
She tweeted about the missed opportunity alongside a photo of the coveted sweater on X, writing:
“My daughter asked, “Do you ever have any regrets, Mom?” And while I know she was asking this question on a philosophical level, my mind immediately went to this puffin sweater I saw in Iceland. It’s been 3 years since I saw it in a shop there, & I still regret not buying it.”
Turns out a lot of people could relate.
“To be fair, I’d still be beating myself up over that too!” one person replied.
Another wrote, “I don’t blame you. I love Puffins sooooo much.”
“This will never leave you,” said a third. “I fear it will not,” Celia replied. “Puffin love is REAL.”
People became invested and offers to knit a similar sweater started trickling in. And that’s when fate stepped in.
Dave Wiskus was mindlessly scrolling through X when Celia’s tweet popped up in his “for you” section. He recognized the sweater.
He posted a reply:
My regret is that I bought this exact sweater for my wife two years ago. She has worn it zero times. I’m in NYC. Cover shipping and it’s yours.
Shocked, Celia thought he was joking. He wasn’t. “I would never joke about a puffin sweater,” he quipped.
Dave was true to his word.
This Is What The Internet Was Made For
Ten days later, a package arrived in Berlin from New York. Nestled inside a cardboard box was the puffin sweater FROM THE SAME STORE. It still had the original tag on it.
“People are amazing!” she tweeted. “Just 10 days ago, I shared a thought about one of my regrets in life. Of course, not buying a sweater sounds like a minor regret, but SO MANY could relate! And then @dwiskus made my wish a reality. This sweater made it from NYC to Berlin in record time!”
Not only did Dave and his wife send the sweater free of charge, but they also covered all the shipping costs.
The best part? It fit her like it was meant to be hers all along.
“I am SO HAPPY!”
She also posted an update on Instagram.
“Most of my friends know how much I love puffins. I’ve been to Maine, Ireland, and Iceland just to see them,” she wrote. “Well, I posted on Twitter about a regret I had regarding not purchasing a puffin sweater while in Iceland. And, to my complete surprise, a stranger offered me the same sweater (from the same small shop!).”
“The world can be a really amazing place sometimes.”
There Are No Tiny Kindnesses
This may not seem like a major life regret in the grand scheme of things. But it’s true when they say, “It’s the little things in life that make us truly happy.”
What seemed like a small gesture of kindness to Dave was a huge deal to Celia.
And the gift couldn’t have come at a better time. “I’m living in a new country. We’ve only been in Berlin for like 11 months, and sometimes life is really hard,” she tells Today. “I don’t speak German. I thankfully have a job where I get to speak English, but this was just the universe being like, ‘Hey, I care about you and what you want.’”
As bad as the internet can be sometimes it can also be a force for good — connecting people around the world in really zany but also incredible ways.
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