Brighten Your Day

For the past seven years I've been supporting my next door neighbor by doing odd jobs for her. She's an 84 year old widow and a tiny woman. I think she's maybe 120lbs and about 5'0", about the same size and age as my Mom. I help her with things that are heavy, I regularly mow and edge her lawn, or change lightbulbs because she gets scared climbing on chairs or a stepstool.

Yesterday she almost made me cry when she was talking with her sister. I had just finished getting her gutters ready for winter and i was working on my own. They were on her back porch and she was telling her sister how much having me as a neighbor helped her. Not just with chores, but also because both my wife and I stop and talk with her. She goes through bouts of incredible loneliness and isolation when she misses her husband still, but having neighbor who cares makes it easier.

It makes me happy that I've at least made one person's life better.