Children are one of the last true sources of pure joy and love in the world, and that attitude quickly gets replaced as the child gets older and the adult world takes over. That is why adults get a special warm feeling when they encounter a smiling child.

It doesn’t matter if it’s from a toddler introducing himself with a tiny handshake or a smiling baby sitting in her mother’s grocery cart, those little signs of love can make anyone feel better.

That’s why one woman recently understood such a connection between her daughter and a passing police officer. The woman was visiting Target to run an errand when the event occurred. Her daughter was staring out the window at the scene, as children often do, and she spotted the police officer in the parking lot.

As soon as her mother parked the car, the little girl leapt from the vehicle and greeted the officer with a bright smile and a loud “hi!”, which the officer returned in kind. The mother assumed that would be the end of it, but she was mistaken.

When the mother and daughter returned from inside the store, they found a note pinned under the windshield of the car. At first, the mother assumed it was a complaint of some sort, or possibly a parking ticket.

Instead, she found a pleasant surprise. The officer from earlier had left a nice note thanking the young girl for her politeness, and he left a dollar bill to go in the girl’s piggy bank.