Let’s be honest – we’ve all wanted to hug the person who delivers our pizza. But it’s really only ok to try it if you’re a kid. Earlier this year, a 2-year-old Cohen from Rhode Island chased down his delivery man as he was leaving the porch to thank him with a big bear hug. The adorable moment was captured on the family’s doorbell camera and has since gone viral.

In the short clip, Cohen bounds out the front door and onto the family’s porch as deliveryman Ryan Catterson goes to close the gate.But he’s kind enough to stop and accept the hug and the thanks.

The boy wanted to give him a kiss as well, but his mom followed after him and told him it would be better to blow a kiss instead.Cohen’s mom Lindsey Sheely first posted the footage in her

Instagram stories. But social media makes our world a small one and the video managed to get back to Catterson.“Even better, is that I posted this to my IG stories last night and somehow, it found it’s way to the man who delivered our pizza! Thank you, Ryan for being so sweet with our little guy!” Sheely wrote later in a Facebook post.But there was something even more touching about the scene.

That hug meant more to Catterson than anyone could have imagined. A mutual acquaintance had connected Catterson and Sheely on Facebook and that’s when she discovered and got permission to share the heartbreaking reason why the hug was so appreciated. He had just l.o.s.t his 16-year-old daughter, Alyssa, the week before.

“Little did we know what Cohen’s hug to this stranger would mean,” Sheely wrote in her post. “Through this, we found out that Ryan unexpectedly l.o.s.t his daughter recently, and that hug from Cohen was a little blessing from God.”
Catterson himself commented on the Facebook post:

“Thank you so much for posting this! This week has been a rough one and that really put a smile on my face. He is such a sweet little guy.”A GoFundMe campaign for travel and funeral expenses ended up raising over $31,000 for the grieving family. “I believe in divine appointments and know that Ryan was the one to deliver our pizza for a reason,” Sheely wrote before giving viewers the link to the fundraiser (which is now closed).

Many people who saw the video wanted to believe that little Cohen’s hug was a sign – an indication that Alyssa was looking down on her dad and sending him a little extra love at the moment he needed it “We are really never gone..we look out for the ones we love….she hugged him one last time….a thank you…,” said one YouTube viewer.

Catterson believed it too. He told a local ABC affiliate that he’d like to think that the small gesture was a sign that his daughter was still there in some way.Regardless, it was the perfect gesture at just the right time. With news stories becoming less encouraging by the day, Sheely said she hoped the video would cheer people up.
“We thought it was so sweet and funny. I hope it gives you a laugh and warms your heart like it did for us.”

Be sure to scroll down below to see the sweet footage and an interview with Catterson.

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