Triplets reunite with garbage collector who was their 'hero' when they were 3 year olds

Some friendships are unique and special, especially the ones that kids build in their younger years. One such relationship is between three children and a neighborhood garbage collector in Orlando, Florida. Tony Parks used to go about doing his usual work of collecting garbage. Until one day, he saw these triplets Olivia, Emma, and Axel. Carla Wierenicz, the children’s mother said, "They were excited to see it lift and know and dump it on the back and I say, ‘you know what? Come on, let's go see how it works,’” as reported by mynbc5. They used to await Parks coming so much that they would leave their breakfast table when they heard the truck coming. Even Parks “loved the kids” and he was the “kids’ hero,” said the mother.

On the days, he didn’t come, the kids with the mother in the car “circle around till they found” him, said Parks. The daily meet-up had such sweet moments between the kids and Parks that the mother used to shoot videos occasionally. Wierenicz also posted one of those videos on Instagram and it soon went viral. Talking about it, she said, "We still have so many kind people.” “It's so beautiful to see that."

Four years ago, Parks’ route changed and he was no longer able to meet the children. But last week, the city asked Parks to take the route for old times' sake. And the kids’ got to live the old days. They honked the truck’s horn, raced down the streets with him and exchanged gifts with Parks. The children gave him drawings that they had made the night before and Parks gave them kids mini city of Orlando garbage trucks and T-shirts. Parks believes that he found something precious with the children. He said, “I picked up joy. I picked up happiness. I picked memories.”

Being with kids, also often makes you one of them. In another story, a man shared how the kids’ in his apartment complex made him feel like a child again. In a Reddit post, he wrote: "I live in an apartment complex that has a bunch of little kids." He said that he used to walk around in the complex during the COVID-19 lockdowns and during one of his walks, a kid launched a soccer ball in his direction. Without thinking about it much, the man headed the ball back to the kids. The kids were immediately impressed by his skills. "They said something like, 'WHOA! Do it again! Do it again!' And I was hesitant at first because I'm a bald 31-year-old with a large beard playing with a bunch of little kids," the Reddit user admitted. He was quick to tell them that their parents might not be comfortable seeing them playing with a "stranger." What he didn't realize at the time was that the kids' mom was watching them from her window. She yelled: "Please kick the ball around with them if you want to, I know you live across the hall I see you all the time!" Relieved, he played with the kids for the next two hours and "had a blast," the man shared.

After that, the kids started asking him to play with them every week. He wrote: "Now every Friday without fail a group of kids knocks on my door at 6 pm because they know I'm off work and want me to play some kind of game with them. We played freeze tag last Friday it was dope, I cheated and climbed a tree so they couldn't get me." he said.

 That's not all. The kids' mother also brings him fresh homemade tamales at least once every two weeks, the Reddit user revealed, adding that she "refuses to let him pay" for them.