Or…it takes a village.
Remi has been gone for the past week and so I have been holding down the fort by myself along with the puppers. Except that I haven’t been alone and certainly not lonely.
For while, when I lived in Paris or Arles and this same situation would occur, I would initially be showered with various invitations that would only be followed up with unapologetic “So how did your week(s) go?” afterwards. Not so in this tiny Provençal village.
Here, I was immediately invited over to a lovely tea in a jasmine lined courtyard, given rides to public transportation so that I could get to two of my guided walks, taken to a resplendent flower show and spoiled with a very fine lunch of pastilla and fresh mint tea. All of it in great company.
The relatively few people that I know took the task of making sure that I was well quite seriously and yet did it with such gracious ease that I never felt like I was being a burden. It made me feel a part of this little community as did my daily salutations from my fellow gardeners. When you have moved around as much as I have in life, that is not a little feat.
And yet I was left wondering…Isn’t this how it should always be? Or has such consideration fallen widely into the derogatory sense of “old-fashioned”? I have a hunch that it comes down to a question of time – which tends to swing slowly in these parts – and priorities.
Regardless, I am left holding one certainty in the palm of my hand. It is carved with the word “kindness” and yes, that is something that is most certainly better than bijoux.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. May wonderful things bloom for you…
PS. I hope that those of you who left comments on my previous post will pardon my not responding individually as I usually do. The Mistral winds finally stopped after 16 days straight – sixteen days of howling winds! In May! Unheard of! – and so I have been lured away from the computer screen to play outside once again. My head still feels as though it is comprised of a big bag of rolling marbles!
What a lovely reminder of how important our human connections are. I recall days of these neighborly tendencies even while living in big cities. Sadly, I think we're stressed and stretched these days, it's all too easy to lose touch, when in fact we might benefit tremendously from these acts of kindness.
xo
Gillian, that was one lovely sentence you wrote there! My goodness…
Edgar, I have never experienced anything like it in the ten years that I have lived in the South. Everyone was truly cranky by the end of it! It has a definite effect on people's mental states – a bit like a suped up Santa Anna winds in your part of the world.
Sister, you are so amazing – yes, this is exaaaactly what I meant by time and priorities but you put it far more gracefully than I! And I love that you had that shift in perspective about NYC from your trip there. I remember that any time that I made the effort to be smiley at the cashiers at Red Apple (and it was an effort!), some little doorway of something good would open. I need to think about what you wrote about simplicity=calming=kindness – I love that.
And I am sending one Northward right back!
Jackie, I have to say it was such a lovely surprise – and thank you, the marbles have been put to rest!
There are some aspects about life in this part of Provence that can be a little too "old-fashioned" for me but kindness is something that I am really happy about! 😉
Oh, I am so behind in what is going on with your new life in Greece! I have to go see…
Thank you, dear G. It took a few days for the marbles to settle down but they have…
After so many years of living anonymously in big cities, it really is quite a change… 😉