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Wednesday, March 24, 2021

A favour

Yesterday afternoon, a message popped up from an old friend from our pregnancy loss group (D). She & her family used to live in the same area where we had our house & ran the group, but a couple of years ago they moved out to the west coast (several thousand miles away).  

D said "I have a favour to ask you, and I completely understand if you would rather not."  She explained that her 90-year-old aunt lives in a small community just north of where we now live.  D had arranged for her covid vaccine appointment.  You MUST make your appointment online (at the moment, anyway) -- no phone calls, no walk-ins or in-person appointment requests taken at vaccination centres. 

(The uptake for the 80+ group has been much lower than expected -- well, DUH....!!  Many seniors are not computer or cellphone-literate, and not everyone has computer-savvy family or friends nearby to help out, right?  I guess there are some community service groups that are making appointments for people who need assistance, but seriously? I mentioned this to D and she said, "My aunt was SO confused... broke my heart." :(  ) 

Anyway, D asked if... we would consider printing off the confirmation form and other paperwork her aunt needs to bring to her appointment next week and drive it up to where she lives (about 20-30 minutes away, tops) and drop it off at her apartment. 

I did ask dh before saying yes, just to be sure he was okay with it (since he'd be doing the driving!)  and he said, "How can we NOT do it??"  So I responded that of course we could do that, and it would be great to have an excuse to get out of the house for a while, lol.  She was SO happy & grateful.  

And then about half an hour later the phone rang -- it was a delivery person downstairs. Dh looked at me quizzically (like, "What did you order NOW?"  lol)  but I knew immediately that D must have sent us something as a thank you (because that's the kind of person she is) -- and sure enough, it was a florist with a beautiful bouquet, and a card from D attached.  (D also brought dh & me flowers to our last meeting as support group facilitators, 11+ years ago, which I wrote about here!)  

A lovely bouquet from our friend.
After lunch this afternoon, I put the paperwork in my purse and we drove to D's aunt's house. It took us less than half an hour, on a cloudy but mild spring day. It was so nice to get out of the house and out in the countryside for a bit. I called and left a message before we left and she was waiting on her porch when we arrived.  We left a few minutes later, feeling like we'd done something good. :) 

I don't know if D's aunt is childless -- but she is clearly alone and in need of some assistance, at least when it comes to technological matters -- and this was such a small, simple thing we could do. (She does have someone to take her to the appointment -- I'm guessing it's someone who is also older and similarly not tech-savvy...!)  

All I could think was that someday I might be 90 and alone and in need of some help -- hopefully our nephews would be able to do something like that for me, but who knows??  

8 comments:

  1. You are such a kind soul! And I love that you were both willing to jump into action with nary a thought. It is easier still when we know we may well end up in that very same boat one day in the far off future. Here's hoping future younger kindhearted folks will emerge and one day return the favor.

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  2. This was heartwarming, from you and your husband immediately wanting to help this woman to your friend who sent you beautiful flowers as a thank you. Thank you for sharing and thank you for helping her!

    I've told my nephew I'm counting on him when I'm old, but, because we're closer in age than your typical aunt and nephew, he won't exactly be young either! I also hope to eventually meet people and build some sort of community for myself. It doesn't have to be big. I'm also always brainstorming so I've thought that maybe I can call the local high school or a Girl Scout troop when I'm older and need some heavy lifting or assistance of some kind. I'm hoping there will always be young people looking for volunteer opportunities!

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  3. The pandemic has made me even more appreciative of the kinds of connections we cultivate with people. So much of what we do is perfunctory and transactional, rather than deep and meaningful, and it's those deeper connections that bear fruit when we really need each other. I think I've recommitted to cultivating the deeper connections where I can ... it is hard with work and everything else we all juggle, but I can only imagine how relieved your friend was to be able to call on you, and given what I know you put out there into the world, I can only imagine that you will be able to make those calls when you need it, too. The statement about it "taking a village" has never been truer ... I think it's time to find our villages again. <3

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  4. So pretty. She really appreciated the favor.

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  5. What a lovely story, both the favor and the gratitude.

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  6. Beautiful! What a great story, restores my faith in humanity!

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  7. I love this story! It is wonderful that you were able to help someone and also that you got these beautiful flowers :-).

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  8. Oh, I love this Loribeth! Such an act of kindness. As your DH said, how can we NOT help someone like this. I do find all the on-line booking so inconsiderate of the elderly, who don't understand new systems even if they can cope with some online functions (and the older they get, the harder it is even just to check email, I've observed). I'm hoping here they will include methods for the elderly to make bookings in different ways.

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