Art enjoys doing his Meals on Wheels every Friday and has grown to really care about his clients. Several of them have wanted to repay him for his volunteer work. He has told them all firmly that he cannot accept payment for his volunteering. However, there are some things he hasn't been able to refuse and the organizers have said it's OK for him to accept.
Mrs. M. gave our granddaughter a box of cookies this past summer that just happened to be KC's favorite. 7 year old KC wrote her a beautiful illustrated thank you letter that Art has been told is still hanging on this kind lady's refrigerator. Mrs. M bemoaned the fact that so few young people acknowledge gifts these days. She is still touched by the effort KC put into her letter.
Mrs. M sews ilima leis for stores. For the longest time now, she has repeatedly asked Art to tell her when he needs a lei because she wanted to sew him one.
We were finally able to ask her for a lei to place on the urn for my cousin, Joan's interment of her ashes on Saturday.
On Friday, Mrs. M asked Art if he would help her with the ilima flowers. I was going to go but at the last minute stayed home because I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to pass on any possible germs.
Art took these photos for me with our iPhone. The ilima bushes are all around her yard. Each teeny tiny flower looks like a miniature hibiscus. Mrs. M has to pick them early in the morning when the sun is barely up.
It takes about 500 flowers to make one lei. Mrs. M is paid very little for the leis. The flower shops hike the price almost 75%.
Here Mrs. M is showing Art how to pull off the sepals of the flower. I think that's what you call that green part of the flower.
Art said it took quite a bit of time, but he enjoyed learning about 92 year old Mrs. M's life experiences.
He watched as she began stringing the flowers together and thought she was almost done, but then she told him to come back later to get the finished product.
I was feeling better by then so I went along to thank her. We brought her some eggplant which she said she really loved.
I was very happy to meet her and promised to come again another time to help.
What a shock to discover when we came home that she didn't just sew us one lei, but three strands. I know one strand costs about $25!
Although everyone at Joan's interment on Saturday admired the lei, I know there was just as much pleasure for Mrs. M because there is happiness in giving as well as receiving.
As we were leaving her house Friday afternoon Mrs. M called out, "Please bring KC with you the next time she visits so I can sew a lei for her."
Mrs. M. gave our granddaughter a box of cookies this past summer that just happened to be KC's favorite. 7 year old KC wrote her a beautiful illustrated thank you letter that Art has been told is still hanging on this kind lady's refrigerator. Mrs. M bemoaned the fact that so few young people acknowledge gifts these days. She is still touched by the effort KC put into her letter.
Mrs. M sews ilima leis for stores. For the longest time now, she has repeatedly asked Art to tell her when he needs a lei because she wanted to sew him one.
We were finally able to ask her for a lei to place on the urn for my cousin, Joan's interment of her ashes on Saturday.
On Friday, Mrs. M asked Art if he would help her with the ilima flowers. I was going to go but at the last minute stayed home because I wasn't feeling well and didn't want to pass on any possible germs.
Art took these photos for me with our iPhone. The ilima bushes are all around her yard. Each teeny tiny flower looks like a miniature hibiscus. Mrs. M has to pick them early in the morning when the sun is barely up.
Here Mrs. M is showing Art how to pull off the sepals of the flower. I think that's what you call that green part of the flower.
Art said it took quite a bit of time, but he enjoyed learning about 92 year old Mrs. M's life experiences.
He watched as she began stringing the flowers together and thought she was almost done, but then she told him to come back later to get the finished product.
I was feeling better by then so I went along to thank her. We brought her some eggplant which she said she really loved.
I was very happy to meet her and promised to come again another time to help.
What a shock to discover when we came home that she didn't just sew us one lei, but three strands. I know one strand costs about $25!
As we were leaving her house Friday afternoon Mrs. M called out, "Please bring KC with you the next time she visits so I can sew a lei for her."
What a lovely gift!
ReplyDeleteOH my goodness, what a wonderful experience for all. Those were just beautiful. To learn that is awesome. The experience that KC and Mrs. M had will forever impact both but more for KC. When my Bro & Sis and I were young we made friends with the elderly neighbors and it was a friendship that still affects me to this day and I cherish.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful experience for everybody all around. Mrs. M sounds like a gem to me, but then so are you and Art as well. :-)
ReplyDeleteA wonderful post. Yes, we have so much stuff these days we forget to say thank you for gifts. Too sad. JC is very special, but you know that. So is Mrs. M.
ReplyDeleteDarn, I meant KC.
ReplyDeleteHi, Kay! I hope your Monday is going well so far back in paradise. This does sound like it was a truly wonderful experience indeed. And yes, there is absolutely happiness in giving :) I believe that we receive by giving.
ReplyDeleteOh, such beauty, and made with such an open heart. Mrs. M is indeed a saint. We need lots more people like her here on earth to make life better for all.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful gift....with so much good will on both sides.
ReplyDeleteAgain, my condolences. Look at all the joy that came of this, however. People being kind to one another.
ReplyDeleteI love this story.
ReplyDeleteVery touching, this people helping other people. My friends in Switzerland would call it a circulation of mercy.
ReplyDeleteWow....that's way to much, yet such a kind gesture. And they are soooo beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI like this exercise of care and patience to memorialize the loss of someone close to you.
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful post. i would love to meet her!
ReplyDeleteWonderful, wonderful, wonderful. There is so much goodness and graciousness and generosity in this post. All of you are gracious and generous beyond measure. Isn't it nice to know that such goodness still happens in this world?
ReplyDeleteWhat a gifted and patient person
ReplyDeleteMay I proffer a competing thought? Payment may often refer to the gratitude the intended giver sincerely feels. It is NOT NECESSARILY about enriching the receiver. I am a big tipper, always going over the 20% mark. The servers are often hard working people with families, other jobs or just battling the high cost of living. Zippy's is a locally good example. A happy eating experience in a restaurant is one of the pleasures of life. Someone in my office did extra work for me, my own project, and I got a modest Liberty House (back in the day, obviously) gift card to give in sincere thanks. It was refused. Not only did it hurt my feelings a little, but I never felt good about that person again. In fact I feel a little annoyed right now as I recall the incident. Well, I guess this is one of those situations where there is no one right answer, because I'm sure Art has a good point in his own understanding of the situation. Maybe the individual couldn't afford the money or whatever. Well, not everything is clear cut in life.
ReplyDeleteThere were certain restrictions Art was given when he went to the orientation for Meals on Wheels. He follows them carefully. However, when people have insisted he accept a small gift card at the holidays or a papaya here and there, he will gratefully accept. He knows it makes them feel good too and the organizers have OKed it.
DeleteAs for that person not accepting your gift card for the project, that's a shame. Some people are just not able to accept gifts graciously which is too bad. I can see why it would make you feel bad. I would too.... definitely.
This is just a wonderful story. Art's giving, Mrs. M wanting to give back with that beautiful lei, and KC sending a thank you letter. I could feel the warmth of this story from here.
ReplyDeletethat's a lot of flowers for one lei
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story. The elderly still have some great skills. My younger brother worked in a nursing home. One lady knit many pairs of socks for him.
ReplyDeleteWow, so beautiful! What a sweet lady. Maybe she will teach KC how to make them. I bet KC would love that.
ReplyDeleteOh Kay, this is so heartwarming. What a touching story, it made me smile just reading it. This made my day, thank you Kay.
ReplyDeleteHi Kay, I didn't realize how much work it was to make an Ilima lei, I used to help my Aunty at her flower shop when I was a teenager and I thought making dendrobium, vanda, and carnation leis were hard work, I was wrong! I always wondered how they make the cigar lei too, those are beautiful, but looks very tedious. Michele
ReplyDeleteI figured the ilima lei took time, but I had no idea just HOW tedious it is and she gets paid so little. I told her I could tell my friends about it who would pay her more, but she said the florists' orders are consistent. She doesn't need the money so much, but likes to make leis for friends out of love much more. I took photos at the grave site and we're going to show them to her along with some cooked kabocha which mom will make for her.
DeleteOh... and my auntie makes those cigar leis. They are a monumental amount of work too!
DeleteIt's a beautiful gift and another lovely post!
ReplyDeleteThank You, Kay for sharing such wise words about life and lei. Condolences and congratulations on your exemplary KC. She is a chip off the old Art/Kay block! <3
ReplyDeleteALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
<3
Oh, my goodness. What a huge number of flowers and an amazing amount of work those lies require! That is truly a gift of love.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful of Mrs M and well done KC for making this sweet lady happy with her thank you note. My deepest sympathy for your loss of Cousin Joan. Mrs M's lei looked very beautiful. It was interesting to find out how much work goes into one lei and to see the process. Thank you Kay.
ReplyDeletedidn't realize so much went into making leis!
ReplyDeleteoh
ReplyDeletemy
amazed
at the work :)