Mattress Mick shared a very moving story on the Humans of Dublin Facebook page

Tue, 02 Feb, 2016 - 09:14

Ciara Flaherty

Mattress Mick is without a doubt the most famous mattress salesman in Ireland (and possibly the only famous one).

That's thanks to his hugely popular and ridiculously daft ads for Mick's Dublin furniture shop. If you somehow haven't seen one...

But the madcap ads clearly don't paint the full picture of the man behind the mattress.

Michael Flynn was stopped by Peter Vargas who runs the Humans of Dublin Facebook page on the street and he shared this touching story of his first love and the sad circumstances under which they reconnected.

"When I was in my late teens I met a girl, and she became very, very special to me. She was my first love. We were together for quite a while, but I guess we were just too young... We met too early. She wanted to do other things, so she decided to go different ways. We kept in touch on and off for a long time, but after that, I hadn't seen her for years. I knew she got married, I knew she had children.

"Some of her friends kept in touch with me, so I always knew what was going on. She was always very special to me, and never really left my thoughts. A few years later somebody told me she developed cancer. I actually met her about two years before she died. Her friends organised a reunion but I didn't think it'd be the last time I saw her.

[timgcap=Photo taken by Peter Vargas/Humans of Dublin]zzzMattressMickHumansDublin_large.jpg[/timgcap]

"One Sunday afternoon, out of the blue, a friend of hers called me and said, 'Hi Michael, I have someone here that wants to talk to you.’ She said, 'Hi, it’s me, Kathy. I just would like to say goodbye. I know I'm going to die soon, and I wanted to let you know you were very special in my life too.'

"Every time I think about that phone call I get very sad. It was the nicest phone call I have ever received in my whole life. It meant so much to me. That someone who knew they were terminally ill and hadn't a lot of time could actually think about me, and tell me that... I guess it is true, it's never too late to tell somebody how you feel.

"She died that week, but she'll always be in that very special place in my heart."

The post has taken off, with over 7,000 likes and hundreds of shares and comments from people who said they were moved by his tale.

"Beautiful story crying reading it life is precious to the end and it is so important to tell people we love them throughout life."

"Ah such a sad beautiful story. I was hoping for a happy ending when I started to read it. Beautiful and so true it's never too late to tell someone you love them"