Generations of storytellers make Grampa Andy proud

Kathleen is a therapist who deals with the after-effects of head injuries. Using crafts, painting, and music, she helps people regain some of the abilities they may have lost. Often, progress is painfully slow, but any sort of progress at all is considered a success.

She told me recently how proud she was, both of both herself and her patient, when he hummed along with a tune he used to play professionally as a musician. They are working on relearning the piano notes now.

Being more than a little older than Kathleen, I recalled an Irish folk song that was often sang at family gatherings. It was I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen and was covered by Bing Crosby, Slim Whitman, Daniel O’Donnell, Elvis and others. Why? Because, through her patience and care, I was sure that Kathleen and her fellow therapists were helping bring many people home again.

Poppy is a rescue dog. She was brought, as a pup, from Romania where she was living on the streets and in constant danger of being put down. She was nursed to health by Elaine, before her brother Alex asked if he could adopt her. Alex had a much more active lifestyle, so Elaine agreed.

Then, one day, Alex fell off his bike, breaking his leg. Poppy, who had been running alongside him, howled until someone came to help.

While Alex recovered, Poppy moved back in with Elaine, who was slowly sinking into a depressed state after the break-up of a relationship.

Poppy lifted her spirits, got her out of the house, and befriended a dog whose owner became Elaine’s new friend.

There are many ways to rescue a person – or animal – and Poppy seems determined to be involved in them all!

Grampa Andy is in the middle of a long period of post-operative recuperation. He’s heading in the right direction – but he’s tired!

When Aidan, his three-year-old grandson, visited, he asked Grampa Andy for a story.

Andy replied that he wasn’t up to reading a book. So, the little boy snuggled in beside him and did his best to read a story by explaining everything he saw in the pictures.

And, he made a pretty good job of it!

“It was just what I needed,” Andy told his daughter, Maureen. “But I did feel a bit useless, not being able to do anything.”

“Ahh, but you did do something,” Maureen told him. “You taught me to make stories out of the pictures when I was too small to read. I taught Aidan. Now he’s showing you!”

We do a surprising amount of the work in our lives in advance.

The staff at my local library are a wonderful bunch of characters.

I was chatting with one yesterday and he told me about their clientele.

“Oh, we know all the regulars. Of all different ages,” he said. “Some come here because they love books, some to get in out the weather, some come to work, some come because this is a friendlier place than their home.

“We know which ones like to chat, and who just wants to be with the books. We even know the ones who try to steal.”

“And what do you do with those ones?” I asked.

“Oh,” he smiled, “we make ourselves visible, smile, chat, and steer them away from situations where they’re likely to get themselves into trouble. We keep them safe from themselves.”

Not “warn”, you understand, or “catch”, or “scare away”, but “keep them safe”. We could do with more librarians in the world!

Happiness is not for sale. It’s something we can’t buy. Its value can’t be measured However hard we try. The funny thing about it is, As evidence has shown, Though happiness is not for sale, It’s available on loan.