Random acts of Kindness
It’s been a little longer than usual between posts because somehow, despite not being in paid employment, life is pretty busy!
I am trying to build up my little business and since it revolves around selling prints of paintings I have done as well as mugs, aprons, tea towels and other gifts, this is the busiest time of the year when I usually make most of my sales. It also happens that Project Wingman has really ramped up recently too – but more of that next week!
This week we said goodbye to the Henderson family figurehead and “captain of a very large family ship” as one of my daughters described her and of course this was all done online. I can confirm for anyone who has not had to do it, that an online funeral is just as sad but also just as lovely as being there in person, and an online wake is a great way of us all getting together with the added advantage of no one having to drive hundreds of miles there and back!!! We would have preferred to have been there in person but our family is a family of huggers – and we would almost certainly have ended up as some awful headline of super spreaders – not something anyone needs ever!
I am very fortunate to have large and supportive families on my side as well as my husbands side, so while the Zwake (as we called it) was lovely, it’s not unusual for us to get together in this way. In fact, I think the younger cousins are all getting to know us much better because of Zoom!! We have a family whatsapp group too and regularly share stories and things that have happened during our days as I imagine lots of you have too. Last week though, two stories were shared which really reminded me that what we still have left is kindness, and therefore hope.
In the first story, a cousin who is a PCSO was called to the home of an elderly lady who’s family could not get hold of her. She ended up having to break in and found the lady lying on the floor where she had been for 3 days. The lady was grateful to have been found, was embarrassed to have caused a fuss and all she wanted was a nice cup of tea with two sugars. This certainly puts things in perspective doesn’t it.
The second story is of another cousin who works in a school where a large group of children had been put into isolation after positive cases in their year. The school was then contacted by a small number of families who were worried about how they would get through the isolation period without school meals, and also how their children would be able to keep up with the online learning as they didn’t have the technology for this.
A call for help went out on community websites and groups and food, money and even tablets arrived at the school to support these families, to the point that the school have now been so overwhelmed by people’s kindness and generosity that they have had to liaise with a local supermarket to help with the distribution of gifts.
We are going through some remarkably challenging times, but it won’t break our spirit, and if we carry on remembering to look out for people, and do what we can, where we can, we really will all muddle through this together. None of us know what the other side will be like but I’m pretty certain it’s going to be better knowing we are all facing it together.
