No, this is not a love story as you may have thought.

I met her at a bus stop and it was way too late for me to focus on anything, until this woman spoke.

She gazed up at the night sky, turned to me and said, "I am so happy that there are still good people in this world, just like you."

And so I say to you, thank you for brightening my spirits.

Your experiences in WWII Europe were first hand accounts I had never heard of in person.

I still cannot imagine being awakened not by a soft morning sun but by the sound of dogfights overhead, and to be lulled to sleep in shaking bunkers.

I cannot fathom seeing my father die at the age of 10 and shortly after being separated from my mother and siblings.

I will never understand the camps that you passed through in which one man's kindness was a miracle that reunited you with your lost mother and younger brother.

I cannot comprehend your identity essentially being erased until you escaped said prison and found a new home in the United States.

What I did and do fully take in, is the happiness that you exhibited, the radiating smile you did not give up, not even for a second, and the wonderful conversation you gifted to a young man whose biggest worry was how he is going to finish his final papers.

So if I never see you again, I would like to thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

You reminded me that life is bigger than individuals, and that the strength of the human spirit is limitless.