Hearts Melt at Mom Finding Joy in Simple Things on Vacation

Travel awakens our senses—even in the smallest ways, one woman has pointed out.

A video posted to TikTok by Morgan (@morganmostly) went viral for revealing her American mother’s awed reaction to the strawberries in Portugal. Since the video was posted less than 24 hours ago, it has received over 550,000 views and over 50,000 likes online.

“My mom every day of her Europe trip pointing out everything they do better than the U.S: strawberry edition,” she captioned the video. “She is all of us.”

In the video, Morgan’s mother holds a container of strawberries and says, with wonder: “My fruit smells like fruit. Strawberries smell like strawberries.”

“Oh my gosh,” she continues, “They’re actually red in the middle. American strawberries are white in the middle. Check them out, I tell the truth.”

Viewers poured in with commentary—on everything from fruit quality across continents to the risks of eating unwashed fruit. But many gushed over Morgan’s mother’s sweet reaction, too.

“Remember, it’s your mom living [life] for the first time too,” @gozde.ay wrote.

“I love watching people enjoying the little things in life, especially if we bring that experience to them,” @roger_pico wrote.

“Your mom is so lovely!” @queeriscute wrote.

Some—apparently non-Americans—were deeply concerned over the small event that struck such awe, though.

“Y’all have strawberries that don’t smell like strawberries and that aren’t red?” @lyzartistic wrote.

“No joke, before I came to Europe, I thought strawberries didn’t have any smell,” @jillywinkles wrote. “I laughed at my friend leaning down to smell them. I also thought I hated apples, turns out they actually taste good in EU [European Union].”

Since the video was posted, Morgan and her mother have responded to the instant virality of the TikTok with several other videos.

In one clip, Morgan tells her mother she went viral, to which she responds, laughing: “My dream in life: to be un-makeup-ed, and very wrinkled, and go viral on TikTok because I made a comment about strawberries.”

Another video shows the pair responding to the comment section’s panic about unwashed fruit.

“My mom would like everyone to know we always wash our fruit, and she is doing okay after eating one singular unwashed strawberry. And thank you for the concern,” she captioned the video. “In fact, she’s thriving.”

The video shows the two dancing in the streets of Lisbon, where Morgan apparently lives as an expat, according to her TikTok bio.

Newsweek reached out to @morganmostly for comment via TikTok.