A Kindred Spirit

It isn't every day that you meet people who touch you, I mean really touch you.
She was an elderly woman, frail and thin. She wore a floppy straw hat with a ribbon tied about her throat. What caught you, what held your attention was her eyes. They glittered and sparkled with life. Her voice grabbed you with its sincerity and kindness.

She immigrated to Ontario from Holland in 1953. The schools there left her fluent in Dutch, German and English although she never quite finished the last couple years of her schooling.

She told me she travels across the provinces every year in her camper with her little dog. I was so drawn to her wisdom, her intellect. We talked about books, writing, literature and various other subjects. She told me that she loves Children books. She is an aspiring writer and just finished one of the few writing courses she's completed over the years.

I can't tell you what it was exactly about her but just being around her was an honor. Honestly, I don't know whether its a second sense, but I can feel people. I can feel their hatred, their agony, their sadness and I can also feel pureness, kindness and true, honest, happiness. She inspired me more in a 20 minute chat then I can put into words and I told her this before she left.

Life is much to short to keep these things to ourselves. Many things in life have taught me this valuable lesson. It was a gift to see her face light up when I told her.

I took her address down before she left and will write to her in the next couple of weeks to see how she is keeping. Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch. When she left, she gave both my husband and myself a hug and said if she was able to make it up here again, she would make sure to stop in. She said we made a beautiful couple :).