Act of kindness lifts the soul

Editor:
Last week I hit a boiling point, I needed a break.
I can be a hot head in the best of times, but add in a pandemic, insomnia and two kids who have been away from their friends since mid-December and are trying to e-learn on rural internet… Rage mom might be the best descriptor for my state.
My very kind, and perhaps self protecting husband encouraged me to spend a night in my studio. Regardless of all my mother guilt, I took the opportunity to spend a night alone.
I have a great text group of girlfriends, all with kids at home, who gently ordered me to drop the omnipresent mom guilt. I obeyed as best I could and went for a fast paced walk around town, listening to music on my headphones, singing along, tone deaf I’m sure, feeling a bit like my younger self.
The realization that I hadn’t eaten a meal all day and the warm open sign in Chez Michel’s window had me ordering take-out at nearly 9 p.m. that night. Although my studio is only a few doors down form Chez Michel, I had never met Milynne, co-owner of the restaurant. For some reason I didn’t introduce myself, the introvert in me I suppose. However, I did tell her that I was away from my kids for the first time in a long while and that I was excited about my take-out dinner. Without a moments hesitation she said, “well you must let me gift you with a bottle of wine. I’m a mom and I get it.”
I was awestruck by her kindness, although I didn’t express it very well at the time. It was more than just a free bottle of wine, which of course is fantastic. In that moment Milynne saw me, held my experience and with that generous act said, “I’ve got you girl.” It meant more than I can describe here.
Milynne mothered the mother. My girlfriends mothered the mother. We’re all feeling this nearly yearlong pandemic in deep and varying ways. These ladies reminded me of the lift that comes from an act of kindness and lasting impact of a little mothering of a mother. Thank you Milynne, and thank you my dear friends.
Sara Sniderhan,
Mulmur.