Day 26

Occurred March 4, 2009

Today's favor was about remembering those we tend to forget. I received a request asking for me to go to a senior center and read a story to a resident who did not normally have many visitors. This request came from one of the kindest individuals I have ever had the pleasure to meet. She lives outside of California and had read about the 32 Favors project in a posting on Facebook and wanted to participate in the "infinite chain of kindness." She said she could think of no greater favor than showing someone they had not been forgotten.

I chose a senior center and decided to bring Margaret Wise Brown's "The Runaway Bunny" as the story to share. It had been one of my favorite books as a child and is message of a mother's love transcending any physical and or emotional distance we, as children, try and impose, is immensely comforting. Upon entering the center, I asked the receptionist if it would be OK to read the book to someone who normally did not get visits. She paused and looked me over head-to-toe and finally nodded and thumbed through a list of residents. She selected one man and one woman, and said, "I know you asked just for one, but these two never receive visitors and it would mean the world to them to spend some time with a younger person. Are you OK with two?" I laughed slightly and smiled saying, "The more, the merrier. I have all afternoon." She led me down hallway to a door leading to a small patio and told me to take a seat and she would go and get the man and woman.

A few minutes later I saw them. The man and woman: two people standing with the help of a walker and a cane respectively. It was only in that moment, I realized why the receptionist chose these two: they were a couple, husband and wife, partners in life. I introduced myself and gave a brief overview of the 32 Favors Project and explained why I was there and what I had brought to read to them. It turned out the wife was very familiar with the book. She reminisced about reading it to her little boy, who had grown into her big boy only to be taken from her in the Vietnam war. He was their only child and still clearly lived inside both of his parents. So, this is why they have no visitors, they were each others family. I read the story cover-to-cover and when I finished I looked over and noticed they were much more alert than only a few moments prior, and were now holding hands and smiling. It reminded me of the movie "The Bluebird" where the grandparents who died tell the Shirley Temple character that each time she remembers them, they live again and wake up. Through the small act of reading them a story, a much larger thing occurred: I realized family is not just biological; it is with any one who we choose to see as being a part of our world. This couple was a part of mine and not apart from me.