Loving is Caring

Before we knew it, the COVID-19 pandemic had been going on for almost a year. Nobody goes out much, and we rarely meet up to chat. I especially wonder about the elderly neighbors in our community – people we got to know walking the dog, selling Girl Scout cookies or organizing the street’s traditional fall party, and the very old lady who was my daughter Julia’s first piano teacher (we stopped taking her to lessons once the pandemic started). How have they been getting by while COVID raged? Now that things are a little better and several of them have had their first vaccine shot, ringing their doorbell with a mask on shouldn’t frighten them too much.

After sending love bags to nursing home residents and caregivers, UAC decided to bring some love bags and letters to seniors living alone in our communities. These seniors don’t need round-the-clock nursing care, but with their children far away, the pandemic inevitably makes them lonely. The letters came from children aged 10 to 16 in Shanghai and Kunming – the first letters they had ever written in English. I printed them out so each household could get two or three. Over the past couple of days I delivered love bags and the children’s letters to several seniors who live on their own. They were all delighted and surprised, and kept asking: “Can we keep the letters?”

Our elderly neighbor was so excited – he insisted that everyone see his family’s 300-year-old tree 😍

Our neighbors. Both of them have already booked their vaccine appointments. (Off topic: I think their little beagle is the cutest dog on our street. Sadly our shepherd is always hostile when he sees it, so they can’t play together – such a pity 😂)

The lady talking with my daughter Julia is our next-door neighbor. She is in her 70s and her husband in his 80s, and we get along very well. Living with them is their daughter in her 40s, who suffered brain damage as a young child and still relies on her elderly parents for many things; luckily both of them are in good health. Although the village library has been closed for a long time, she has found a way: two years ago their son gave them an iPad for Christmas, and now she often borrows books for free from the town library online. She told me she grew up in the sparsely populated English countryside, so she is used to a quiet life and the pandemic hasn’t affected her spirits much. Her husband was an engineer before retiring. I remember chatting with him before the pandemic – he said he was teaching himself the Python programming language. It’s just like the Chinese saying, “never too old to learn” – you can’t help but admire him 😄

Neighbors from the next street over – we met them a few years ago while organizing a street party. They are retired. He is in good health; last summer when I walked the dog I often saw him outside his garage sawing wood and making all sorts of home decorations. Their little dog is 14 this year – a “senior” over 70 in human years, too. I forgot to bring it a bone 🤤

This lady is also a neighbor on our street. She is a pastor at the village’s Lutheran church, and she told us the church currently offers only online prayer services.

When I went to deliver the love bag this morning she wasn’t up yet, so I left it at the door and put the letters in the mailbox 😃

Lilian, my daughter Julia’s first piano teacher. She and her neighbor Madeleine – another elderly lady – both received love bags. Lilian sent me a short email especially to say how good the children’s English was (the letters were from children in Kunming; her exact words: “The Chinese Children seem to be doing very well with thier English.” 🤩). She is in her 90s, has had her first vaccine shot and gets her second next week 😁

Today this gentleman and his wife also received our love bag and letters from Ms. Sherry and her students. (My friend lives close to them; he grows lots of vegetables, and when the garden has a good harvest he often picks some to share with her.) At first he went to get some money, thinking we were collecting donations. When he understood that the love bag was a gift for him, he was surprised and very happy 😃. Look closely and you can see the letters in his right hand (still clutching the money). When we told him the letters were written in English by middle-school students in Shanghai to comfort seniors, and that he could keep them, he was especially pleased 😃

This 76-year-old gentleman volunteers every day as a crossing guard, helping children cross the road safely. For a while a village police officer had taken his place, and we wondered why we hadn’t seen him. A few days ago he finally reappeared, and we learned that he and his wife had both caught COVID. Fortunately they were strong and healthy and didn’t suffer too much; once he recovered he went straight back to his post. His dedication – rain or shine, and not even COVID could knock him down – is truly admirable.

With the help of kind friends, love bags and letters were also delivered to seniors in their own communities.

Michael, son of Dr. Cai who took part in our mask contest, and her college-age daughter Maggie helped deliver love bags and letters, and thoughtfully added their own words of good wishes 🤗

A retired teacher, a friend’s neighbor, quickly wrote replies to two of the children after receiving their letters.

A neighbor in the same friend’s community – a young grandma with her little grandson 😃

A Filipino-American grandma who, my friend says, is retired and lives on her own, with her children visiting from time to time.

The seniors’ joyful smiles brought endless happiness to our UAC volunteers as well – the most beautiful response we could have hoped for. Love never ends.