Things That Made The Week

It’s been quite the week here, both personally and in the news. Several things stand out and are worth noting as events that I want to document and remember.

Firstly, JT is in town. He arrived on Monday, This is always a great thing for The Doc and I. JT is here with the National Band of the Navy Reserves, practicing for a couple of events and eventually playing in the Nova Scotia International Tattoo on Canada Day weekend, which, of course, we will be attending. Although he is not staying with us, he has been here for a couple of visits that included meals and sleepovers. Having my son visit always makes my day. Getting to hear him play, even when he is just practicing is an added bonus.

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of being the recipient of such a pure simple gesture that I have been smiling about it ever since. I was in the checkout line at the grocery store when a young girl, no more than twelve, looked up at me and said, “oh hi.” It was spoken as if she knew me. She was helping an older lady (older than me) who was in a wheelchair. The woman may have been her grandmother. I responded hello and then she smiled and said, “you look very beautiful today.” Now I will tell you that I did not feel very beautiful. I have never felt beautiful in my life. At that particular moment, I felt tired and frustrated. I had been to visit my mother, which is often an exhausting event because I feel that no one can ever do enough to please her. Then I took my glasses in to have them looked at because the lenses were moving around when I cleaned them. I had reused my frames and the last lenses did not move at all. I explained this to the girl, but was told that if they did something to them, they would probably make them worse. I left with my glasses and wobbly lenses as is. When the girl in the grocery store told me that, I looked very beautiful, her timing and her sincerity changed my mood immediately. “I do,” I said, surprised, “well thank you very much!” Then the girl turned and left with the older lady. I really think she should be cloned because the world needs more people like her. And I really think that I am very lucky that she chose to make my day.

Wednesday rolled around and I was still feeling the after glow of Tuesday. I had no appointments and was spending the day moving wood chips created from damaged trees from hurricane Fiona last fall. I was using them as mulch and weed cover in various sections of the yard, creating a weed cover base using a layer of wet yard waste bags before shoveling the wood chips on top. This is my very successful, go-to method whenever we have wood chips from storms. During a break for water and a chat with The Doc, I grabbed my cell phone and checked my email and received this: CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE A WINNER! I had won one of the EV chargers being given away in a contest by our solar panel company, Polaron, to celebrate 7000 solar installs. You may recall that I mentioned in my last blog about our solar experience that I had reviewed the company in order to enter the contest. How could this not make my day? Now I don’t have to fork out over $500 to purchase an EV charger. They will be sending me my free one in the next couple of weeks.

And finally, the biggest thing that made my week is the fact that we finally got rain. After a hot dry spring, Nova Scotia has been ravaged by wild fires this week. Stupid people doing stupid things when a burning ban is in place has impacted and devastated so many. Many houses are in wooded areas in this province and over 200 people lost their homes. It was a sad and tragic week for so many. The province has increased the fine for illegal burning to $25,000 and still certain people have been burning. I find it so difficult to understand such people. I feel for those who lost their homes because I know, based on our year-long experience dealing with insurance and construction trade issues, that it is going to take a long time for their lives to return to normal; and then it will have to be a new normal because they have lost so much. So even though my son is here and other good things have happened to me personally, I, like everyone else in the province, was very happy and relieved to wake up to see large water drops on the window and everything outside wet with the rain.

If you want to help displaced people in Nova Scotia, here is the Red Cross link Nova Scotia & Atlantic Canada Fires Appeal

Thank you for reading. 

Photo:  Jenn Stone

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