Over the last few weeks as I have been bumping into people and they have been asking about our experience of Sam’s death, the one thread that seems to have run thru the whole of this tragic situation has been the incredible generosity and kindness of those around us. We speak of the importance of being in community for all sorts of reasons, but I never thought I’d be so appreciative and overwhelmed by the kind of love and generosity we have experienced.

We were inundated with flowers, cooked for every night for over a month, given Uber eats vouchers we are still yet to use, had people do stuff around our home to help out, had friends offer valuable practical help with various aspects of the funeral, had people regularly check in and invite us for coffee and then various people and communities have passed the hat around and given us outrageously large sums of money.

It has been incredibly beautiful to be on the receiving end of this.

We often speak of the richness of community in tough times, but I sense it is often said somewhat optimistically – hoping that maybe the dreams we have of how our communities take shape may actually come true…

Our family has been wonderully supportive and generous.

Our street has showed us love and kindness beyond what we would ever expect.

Our churches at Quinns and Yanchep have both been places where we have been loved and cared for in many ways.

Our good friends have kept their fingers on the pulse & made sure we are as ok as we can be.

While it has been an incredibly difficult period, every time I stop and ponder how we have been cared for and looked after I am enormously grateful. So if you were one of those people who stepped up somewhat over the last 3 months then ‘thank you‘.

Enjoying the expressions of love and generosity has genuinely been one of the best experiences of my life.