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A Random Act of Kindness Underscored a Lifetime of Service to Others
What is the last thing people will remember about you when you die: what you loved or whom?
I haven't spoken to my mother for over 20 years. We're not estranged; she's just dead.
The last time I did speak to Mom was right after Valentine's Day. She told me that the night before the holiday, she went around to neighbors in her retirement community who she knew lived alone and had no valentine with whom to celebrate the day.
She didn't knock; she just hung a little package of candy on each door, anonymously. My Dad was still alive then, too, but his swiftly advancing Alzheimer's disease had left him sometimes confused about who she was. She had a valentine, but he barely knew he was one.
My mother could have spent her last Valentine's Day lamenting her situation or sunk into depression. But instead, she reached out and did a small act of kindness to show her single neighbors that someone saw and acknowledged them, and they were not alone.
