There’s just something about Mary. According to her mother, she’s animated, happy and free-spirited and though somewhat shy, lights on up her favorite day of the week: trash day.
In a story first reported by ABC News' Houston affiliate, ABC13, 7-year-old Mary has taken her Pearland, Texas, community by storm by becoming best friends with some unlikely heroes, the local garbage men.
“She just loves the garbage guys and the truck. Buses and trains too, those are her pure joys,” Kathy, Mary's mother, told “GMA.”
“They’ll honk and wave and her excitement makes them excited,” Kathy added.
One day, one of the sanitation truck drivers stopped to not only say hello to Mary but to take a selfie with her. It was a moment of kindness, which meant a lot to the family, especially because Mary is a child with autism.
Diagnosed at age three, "she didn’t talk much from a young age ... she won’t talk to anyone or have a conversation with people she doesn’t really know," Kathy said.
Not so with the sanitation workers. "As soon as they come down our street, Mary’s waving at them and jumping up and down,” Kathy told “GMA.”
Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, those same workers went above and beyond, presenting Mary with a gift -- a sanitation costume of her own so she could be part of the team.
“She made a connection with them,” Kathy told “GMA.”
“It makes her day to go out there and see them. To see these guys acknowledge her in this way, it makes my day too ... I want to give those guys all the credit.”
The response has been electric across their small Texas community.
“She feels included even if she can’t communicate it or doesn’t have the words to," said Kathy.