Cheer up! And make it a double!

Prepare to be moved...

So proud of my niece!

Guest post by CC

[CC kindly sent us some photos of her niece Laura's time in Africa. I put the post together by copying CC's comments on the blog and what she wrote in the emails.]

Laura is traveling to a small village named Naivasha. It is 1.5 hours from Nairobi and she is going on a volunteer program to help children in an orphanage/school for 4 weeks. I am so proud of her for wanting to do this you cannot imagine it. She had wanted to do something like this and researched it for the past year. She is 19 years old and has traveled extensively with all of us but this is a wee bit different --- She is really looking forward to it as are all of us (her family) and I have no doubt it will be etched in her memory forever.

******

I want to thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes for my niece Laura --- I am so grateful for them --- and she is too!

My sister has been able to speak with her only once, but she sends her photos and texts when she goes into town every few days (to use their wifi..:-) ) She is extremely happy, she said the kids call her mom and she gets spontaneous hugs all the time... I am soooo happy for her. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I do have a few photos she has snapped and sent:

En route to Nairobi

The resort where she goes to use wifi ... What a beautiful view (and what a difference
from where the orphanage is... poor little ones ... Sigh)

Most of these orphans have HIV---kind of abandoned at this place. It is run by a private couple -- they have no funding -- just donations. Every time I feel humanity is just getting worse and worse, I find out about these stories and smile, realizing there are more wonderful people than not. Thankfully!


[Thank you, CC. Laura is as beautiful and as generous as her auntie... ]

People connecting with people

There's a movie I like very much: "84 Charing Cross Road."


In 1949 Helene Hanff, in search of obscure classics and British literature titles she has been unable to find in New York City, notices an ad in the Saturday Review of Literature placed by antiquarian booksellers Marks & Co located at the titular address in London. She contacts the shop and chief buyer and manager Frank Doel fulfills her requests. A long distance friendship evolves over time, not only between the two but between Hanff and other staff members as well, including birthday gifts, holiday packages, and food parcels to compensate for post-World War II food shortages in England. Their correspondence includes discussions about topics as diverse as the sermons of John Donne, how to make Yorkshire Pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the coronation of Elizabeth II.




I was thinking about it the other day and it reminded me of the friendships that start on a blog, such as this one. We also discuss a variety of topics and many people go on to meet in person, becoming more than virtual friends. The need to connect is part of human nature and people always sought to communicate with each other by whatever means available at the time. Snail mail has been replaced by e-mail, chat rooms, comments sections on blogs and although many people dismiss virtual friendships as not "real," they are as real as those real life connections Helene made with people from across the ocean, even though she never met any of them. Their friendship lasted for nearly two decades, what's not "real" about it?

This movie is also dear to me because the two main characters encapsulate my father. He was bi-polar; sometimes he was as exuberant as Helene, sometimes as reticent and reserved as Frank. The day of his funeral, which I couldn't attend, I went to Blockbusters, rented the video, and watched it at the time of the funeral back in Brazil. It helped me feel part of it, connected to the rest of my family and friends. Needless to say, this movie was also one of my father's favourites.

I'm very grateful to Tim Berners-Lee,  who invented the worldwide web and gave his invention to the world free of charge. "Berners-Lee made his idea available freely, with no patent and no royalties due. The World Wide Web Consortium decided that its standards should be based on royalty-free technology, so that they could easily be adopted by anyone."

Writing about a good movie which deals with long distance friendships and a good man who made these friendships easier makes me feel very warm inside, very close to all of you, my virtual and very real friends...

Food for the soul, from a landfill

View_From_Here sent us this inspiring video. I get goosebumps when I see stuff like this. Thank you so much, View.

Heartwarming

Brave mother

This is a lovely story from August 2012.

A fire broke out in a building in Santa Rosa de Temuco, Chile. A German Shepherd cross called Amanda risked her life to rescue her 10-day-old puppies. She ran between the burning house and the fire truck over and over again until all puppies were safe. After rescuing all of her pups from the blaze, Amanda sat down next to them, protecting them with her body as the firefighters fought the blaze.

Unfortunately, one of the puppies suffered very severe burns and died later that day. The others survived and were reunited with Amanda after treatment.

Shhh...

Children and their pets

Grammy97 sent me these heartwarming pictures. We've seen some of them before, but it doesn't matter how many times we see them, it's impossible not to go aww all over again!

Thank you, Grammy.

Joy!

View_From_here sent me this video and I must say it moved me a lot. Watching the children's reactions was particularly enjoyable. Thank you, View.

Enjoy:



[Some people on youtube criticized this performance because it was filmed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Sabadell Bank. I understand people being upset about banks these days, but the music is still beautiful and the reactions of the spectators to the unexpected public performance were genuine and quite touching.]

Something to make you smile

MD sent me a nice collection of photos, some cute, some funny and a couple of moving ones. Thank you, MD.

Tidy up your bedroom!

Peter found this encouraging story:

Like any typical teenager, Ryan Kitching resisted all his mother's attempts to get him to tidy his bedroom.

For two weeks, the 19-year-old turned a deaf ear to all her pleas for him to clear up the mess.

But when he finally gave in and started sifting through the junk, he found a lottery ticket from the February 8 draw. 

And instead of tossing it in the bin, he had it checked - and found it had five winning numbers and a bonus ball.

Suddenly, supermarket worker Ryan, of Penicuik, Midlothian, found himself £52,981 the richer and posted on his Facebook page: 'Special thanks to my mum for putting up with me haha!'

Now he plans to reward his long-suffering mother Susan and father Raymond by arranging for them to go on holiday.


The odds of getting Billy and Paul to keep their rooms tidy were more or less the same as winning the lottery!

Different words...

View_From_Here found another gem:



Thank you, View.

Together until the end

Moseyon sent me this story from the Huffington Post. It's very touching:

Thank you, Moseyon.