Courtesy is such an old-fashioned word but a wonderful art indeed

 

She had a warm smile of greeting and she spoke kindly showing careful loving attention towards all guests. Her open heart welcomed you to her simple tidy home with generosity. Talking with her reminded me of conversations long ago, in black-and-white movies, where it seemed each word and gesture was carefully weighed and considered.  But it is the feeling her courtesy generated that I remember most.  She was doing not just everything to avoid offending you but also providing a safe space for you to be. Where you knew no harm but only help and love would come your way. Her determination to be courteous provided a safety net for every hurt soul that came her way.

"Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone, let your heart burn with loving-kindness for all who may cross your path."

Bahá'í Writing

Can I speak of my delight in your arrival

Welcome grandson

Into a world being rolled up

Can I speak of my delight in your arrival

It is impossible to describe

How the universe has changed

Because of your sweet appearance

I watch in awe your expressions

Tiny toes, fingers grasping

Sweetness of expression

Sound, fixed gaze

Inspecting this world

With huge dark eyes

As if looking to see something of worth out there

Moving fists to gain control of coordination in air

And lungs learn to control

the important inward movement of that life giving substance

whilst your digestive system masters the tender art of expelling

the same life force from both ends!

A masterful ability

One of many that you will need to perfect

Welcome little one

May you progress and develop each precious day

May you bring joy and radiance

To this weary world

As you have brought to my heart

Listening to my son

Welcome you to this big wide world

Was as epic

As the turning of the spheres

My heart laid bare and shaken

With new born love

I breathe in your presence

And have to shout my delight

Welcome grandson 

Maria and Michael Abateo, forty winks

Here lives Maria and Michael  Abateo.  Maria is a bubbly fifty-year-old Maltese lady.  Full of life and laughter.  You’d pass the house and not notice it, except perhaps the flowers spilling down the front in total abundance.  They suggest someone different lives here.  She loves clothes in bright colours but has good taste so they make her seem younger than her years.  Her husband jokes continually with her, but it is tinged with admiration.   Life with Maria has brought surprises.  Like this week! 

Maria was driving up a steep street in Sliema and spotted a tourist pushing a woman in a wheelchair.  It was midday, the sun was blistering hot and he was obviously finding the slope too much.  Maria drove past but when she got to the end of the road, she circled back round to the couple and stopped next to them.  She asked them where they wanted to go.  The man said, red faced and panting, that they were heading to The Point, a shopping arcade.  Maria told him she would take them there.  Maria has a huge jeep so they all fitted in, wheel chair included.  While they drove, Maria found out that they were a married couple, Doug and Claire from the UK.  Doug had been Claire’s nurse in hospital in the early days of her muscular dystrophy.  Now, Claire was completely wheel chair bound and even required a catheter.  During, their short journey Maria discovered that the couple were trying to find somewhere to eat, so immediately Maria suggested taking them to her home.  “I’ll make you something,” she offered generously.  They readily agreed and Maria was as good as her word with a delicious Maltese meal ready in short time. 

After the meal, the couple were tired and Claire asked if she could have forty winks.  Maria, once she understood what forty winks meant, knew just the place, her large cool corridor with a light blanket thrown over Claire’s wheelchair.  Within minutes, in the cool breezy corridor, she was sound asleep.  Doug and Maria sat in the spacious living room sofas chatting for a while.  But an afternoon siesta is an attractive proposition when you've been out in the sun most of the morning.  So, in no time at all, Doug and Maria were sound asleep each on a large sofa in the shuttered, darkened room. 

When Michael returned early from work shortly after, he was startled to discover a lady in a wheelchair in his entrance hall with his own favourite blanket tucked cozily around her.  Tip toeing into his living room he was nonplussed to discover his wife and a complete stranger also sound asleep in his living room.  Only Maria, Michael laughed, could spring such surprises.  He tells the story well of that day, with animated gestures and eyebrows raised and both of them erupt in gales of laughter.  What a lovely couple, in a welcoming home, with radiant faces and hearts.