Over the past 6 months in particular I have been very mindful of just how much of an impact you can have on somebody's day or life by performing even the smallest acts of kindness. I wanted to share with you an example of something nice I did that had an enormous effect on my nan (grandmother).
My nan is 81 years old and I love her to bits. She has a great sense of fun, is young at heart and her sarcasm is hilarious. I have so many great memories and she has contributed enormously to who I am today, yet it occured to me that I had never actually told her that. I had thought about it often but never really said anything personally to her as no-one tends to do that (we all think things in our head but don't often share them). But it really hit home to me earlier in the year that when she is no longer with us, I would forever regret that I hadn't told her these things. So I made her a little box and filled it with folded pieces of paper upon which I wrote things that I thank her for and things that I admire about her. One day I was at her house and I left it sitting on her pillow as a surprise for her to find later. The following day my nan called me and told me she had been crying all night over the things I said and that I had made her feel as though her life has been worthwhile. She has told everyone she knows about it and the box now sits in her living room. To have my nan say that that one little act had made her feel as though her life has been worthwhile will stay with me forever and I feel so lucky that I was able to do that for her and bring that kind of joy to her. Even though I was nervous about doing it in the first place (my family aren't that forward when it comes to sharing emotions etc), I am so glad that I did and it was extra meaningful because it was so unexpected.
This testimonial really tugged on my heart strings because I did something eerily similar for my grandmother before she passed away. I made her a little box and filled them with pieces of paper that had memories of our times together. She was very weak then, but my grandfather had told me that they went through the box together. I wish I would have said something sooner, when we could have laughed and cried about those memories together. But hopefully she knew the incredible impact she had on me. She was always the epitome of "nice", and I know she'd be proud to see me today.
Don't neglect to let those in your life know how much they mean to you.
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3 comments:
This story did bring tears to my eyes for I was too late to express my thoughts. You are right, we always assume that love ones know how we feel but they don't. Thank you for sharing your story.
Judith
What an awesome thing Bel did for her grandmother!
My daughters did something similar for me one Mother's Day when they were about 9 and 11. Little bits of paper in a teeny tiny jar. Each scrap had on it one reason they loved me. I have taken that jar out on many occasions when I was feeling low and read through a few at a time. Never fails to make me feel wonderful!
I tried to do this once for my own mom, in letter form, but she was uncomfortable receiving it, I think. She told me I didn't need to do that, because she already knew I loved her. But I didn't regret having done it. At least I won't wonder someday when she's gone if she knew she was loved!
What a great story and a fantastic idea.
I can't stress strongly enough how important it is to tell people how you feel about them and how they have impacted you before it's too late.
Not too long before my Grandmother died, she asked that all us grandkids come and see her one last time (she was dieing of cancer and didn't want us to remember her as really sick).
We went into her bedroom 1 by 1 and she told us she loved us and gave each of us a piece of wisdom.
While I was able to tell her I loved her, because I was so upset, I didn't tell her what a huge, positive impact she'd had on my life. I was able to relay this to her through Mum afterwards but I would have liked to tell her myself.
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