The Kindness of Strangers

This is an out of character post for me but my sick child is sleeping and I am feeling reflective and thankful. A few things have happened in the last few days that made me realise that there are actually quite a lot of kind people in this world. Friends that show kindness are one thing but when virtual, not total, strangers help you out that is a totally different kind of kindness!

Like the mother who has invited Nicholas to a playdate tomorrow afternoon so that I don't have to do the school pickup and can therefore recuperate with Daniel at home. Don't worry, I have been to her house once before and her son has come here once before, so I do trust her. Another one of the moms also offered to come and pick up and drop off Nicholas every day so that I didn't have to drag Daniel around. This is an incredibly kind offer considering that she has a 2 week old baby and that we live way out of her way in relation her school run. Everyone at school has been really kind actually!

I needed to pay the cleaner the other day so I rushed down to the end of the road but both ATMs were out of order. Just my luck. I dashed into my drycleaner to see if he could do cash back for me but unfortunately he couldn't. That didn't stop him from kindly lending me £30 out of his private wallet. So trusting!

Even the cleaner offered to come here every morning for an hour to watch Danny while I do the school run. And she added that it is to help and not for money. She really didn't have to do that considering that she is a student from Columbia who is strapped for cash!

My final anecdote is about a lady that I bought jewelry from 2 years ago who I saw the other day in the aftermath of Nicholas' pox. She sent me a text to say that she was thinking about me and wondering if Daniel has it yet and hoped that I was coping. She proceeded to offer her help even though she hardly knows me. I was blown away!

I do always try to be kind to my friends but I am going to try and take an example from these people and be try to be kinder to everyone in the future even if they are virtual strangers. I don't have a picture to go with this post ... shock horror ... but I'll leave you with this quote from one of AESOP's Fables: The Lion and the Mouse.

No act of Kindness,
no matter how small,
is ever wasted.