Day 41 & 42
Volunteering.
Mon Dec 16, Tues Dec 17
I’m sitting here trying to recall, “what did I do that was nice yesterday?” That means I went the entire day without going out of my way to do something nice. I will blame it on Ryan (just this once, I swear!) because he went to work and then was given the day off because the snow was too deep to pour concrete (whatever that means).
He’s a bit lost when he has weekdays off because he has a rigid distinction between a work-day versus a play-day… and all hell breaks loose when it’s a work day gone wild – aka turned into a fun day. Meanwhile, it’s still a work day in my books, so it’s always a challenge to occupy him and be careful as to not hurt his feelings by having him think I’m ignoring him or want him out of my hair. (Mom, if you’re reading this- I know you can relate!)
So mid-morning I broke up the day and had him dress up for a walk in the snow to run all sorts of errands on our street. As we were returning home – we walked by the resident beggar outside of Sobey’s (same guy from Day 3, friends!) and I was mid-conversation. I honestly, truly had zero change in my pockets or purse, but Ryan stopped to fish out his change (within seconds – I kept talking and walking before realizing what he was up to), and handed it to said homeless man. So yesterday’s A-OK belongs to my sweet husband. Well done Ryan.
Today was a gold-star Act of Kindness day as it was a Tuesday and I had my weekly 12-3 volunteer shift at the hospital. I was a bit checked out for Christmas today, and I say that because I was reluctant to fully engage for fear of contracting germs from visiting patients.
My appointed act of kindness was a small one, but it tested me. I was walking down the ground floor corridor past the elevators when I saw an in-patient wheeling herself haphazardly along. I asked if she would like me to push her to her destination since I was there and she obliged. I pushed her to the Tranquility entrance, where I discovered she had come to smoke.
There was an out-patient who was seated in his own wheelchair and the two were familiar, and began bantering like old friends, I guess ? They were friendly but she seemed to hate him a little bit. The man started lecturing me about how I shouldn’t take her out and this and that, and all the while I was regretting that I had gotten myself into this undesirable predicament with two characters that were a little less than savory.
Neither were aggressive or particularly rude, but it was just kind of a “why did I put myself in the middle of this?” situation.
First and foremost – I am anti-smoker. I tend to judge a person when I discover they’re a smoker because I wonder how they’ve gone so awry in attempting to live their [most basic] best life- you are only like 50 million steps behind the rest of us if you inhale that crapola! Look at the photos of those ravaged lungs on the d*#! cigarette boxes people! What more do you need to convince you that you have taken a seriously wrong turn?!
Gah. Inner battle commencing at the hospital entrance with obviously ill patient choosing cigarettes over life.
All that being said, my act of kindness (while all this inner turmoil was happening) was to bite my tongue, smile, and spew intermittent pleasantries while trying to abandon ship. I brought the patient outside and parked her where she asked me to (which was in a non-smoking area… secondary act of kindness… sorry public health department), and then bade her adieu as I retreated to my post outside of the ER.
Today, being kind meant biting my tongue and acquiescing to a job I may not have agreed with, but was already committed to.
Goodnight to my fellow Noels around the globe!
Related articles
- Baguio City’s all around big-hearted Santa (businessmirror.com.ph)
- tribute to reader Gus + Bonnes résolutions du Nouvel An (french-word-a-day.typepad.com)
- Casa de Noel (ireport.cnn.com)
- More Toronto snow means a slow, sloppy Tuesday commute (metronews.ca)
- Day 3: A-ok (katemacweddings.wordpress.com)
the noel project 