(CNN) — On Xmas morning 2011, Linda Wenger boarded a Metro-North coach from New York’s Grand Central Station to head upstate to Katonah.

She was in her mid-50s and experienced been divorced for 10 yrs. Her daughters generally put in the vacations with her ex-husband — Wenger is Jewish, so she didn’t have substantially affiliation with Christmas, while her ex’s new spouse celebrated the holiday.

Wenger’s sister’s family also celebrates Christmas, so she generally traveled to their dwelling in Connecticut on December 25. And she normally traveled by yourself.

Wenger experienced a extremely productive career in marketing for a nonprofit. She was information with her vocation and her existence in New York.

But as the prepare pulled out of the Manhattan terminus, she found herself reflecting.

“I may possibly have been a very little wistful,” Wenger recalls.

There had been only a handful of other people today in Wenger’s carriage, together with a male of a equivalent age, who was sat opposite.

She watched him pull out wallpaper and paint samples from a bag, spreading them on the table in entrance of him.

“I just received this very good vibe from him,” remembers Wenger. “I believed, ‘He’s sort of lovable. And he’s by yourself on Xmas Day.'”

She figured he’d possibly sat opposite her to initiate a pleasant conversation, yet he seemed really absorbed in his endeavor.

As the city retreated into the length, Wenger regarded regardless of whether to strike up a chat.

Then the stranger pulled out a particular floral wallpaper.

“Oh, which is William Morris, is not it?” she mentioned, recognizing one of the intricate designs that characterize the perform of the Victorian artist.

The man seemed up and smiled.

He was Michael McTwigan, a New Yorker in his early 60s who’d been separated from his wife for a calendar year or so.

He was on his way to volunteer at a Christmas foodstuff push in Katonah. His boss lived in that region, and experienced explained to him about the event, which aimed to feed some 300 folks around the holiday break.

“It was Christmas Working day, and I assumed, ‘Well, it’d be good to do a little something and I am all alone, so what can I do that’s helpful?'” McTwigan tells CNN Vacation right now.

He was passing the…