Kindness Fridays
This week’s kindness illustrates a lesson my maternal grandmother passed on to my mother, who then passed it on to me.
The best way to paint this picture is to assume you’re in the kitchen, you pull out a gallon of milk from the refrigerator, take it to the counter to pour yourself a glass of milk and the full glass of milk spills on the counter, over the edge of the counter, and onto the kitchen floor.
If another family member is in the near vicinity, that family member intervenes, tells the person who inadvertently spilled the milk to leave the kitchen, and the other family member cleans it up.
“But Mom, I spilled it, I should have to clean it up.”
“You didn’t do it on purpose, Irene. You already feel bad for spilling the milk, let me lessen your burden by cleaning it up for you.”
And that’s what happened throughout my childhood, and it’s what happens now in my adulthood. A little kindness goes a very long way…all the way from Grandma Conroy’s Edmonton, Alberta kitchen in the 1920s thru 1940s, all the way to mine in Redmond, Washington in the 21st-century.
Living: the ultimate team sport 
March 30, 2018 at 10:14 am
I don’t know if you remember this incident Irene but it happened while we lived in Hawaii probably in the 70s. Mom had made a special plum pudding cake with a hot sauce for our dessert and while I carried it to the table, I dropped the entire thing and broke the plate too. She wasn’t mad at all and help clean everything up.
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March 30, 2018 at 12:30 pm
Of course she did, that’s our momma!
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March 30, 2018 at 8:53 am
What an unusual response! I almost think I have mixed feelings about it. I mean, it seems absolutely lovely, but I might bestow a little guilt!
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March 30, 2018 at 8:53 am
Typo: “it might bestow a little guilt.”
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March 30, 2018 at 9:14 am
For me, and my family, it was a true comfort, but I understand and respect your feelings on it.
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March 30, 2018 at 9:20 am
That is a wonderful tradition for your family given the comfort that it provided. Certainly better than getting yelled at . . . .
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March 30, 2018 at 8:33 am
What a beautiful tradition, Irene. Wishing you and yours a wonderful Easter. ❤
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March 30, 2018 at 9:13 am
Thank you, Jill, you as well.
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