I hope you know a tiny, elderly lady who is the white-haired engine of your community. Maybe she is prim and proper in her makeup and jewelry. But she also wears silly hats, the bigger the better, and the messy kids followed her like ducklings. Of course, she passes out candy, not bread crumbs.

I know another woman who became highly indignant when her grandson sheepishly confessed that he’d gotten his ears pierced over spring break. “Why didn’t you come to me first?” She demanded. “I would have pierced them for free!” She also keeps homemade crescent rolls in her freezer so that, if someone gets sick or comes home with a new baby, she has something to bring over.

Still another woman is proud of setting off the airport’s metal detectors after her knee replacements. This hardware does not stop her from visiting friends across the country or going out dancing with them.

Maybe the woman you know walks to the grocery store while praying the rosary in her hands. Maybe she kneels five times a day toward Mecca. Maybe she plays Mahjong, works 1,500-piece puzzles or bets on NFL games. Maybe she leaves her car unlocked in case an unsheltered person needs a place to sleep. Maybe she collects cats and other strays.

One woman told me that, as long as you didn’t break eye contact, the skunk would never spray you. She then held my gaze so I would believe her.

I know someone else who came to the end of her life and could only sit by the window. Yet, she befriended a songbird by tapping on the glass pane. This Carolina wren would tap back to her from the other side. She died one morning and even the birdsong seemed somber and muted.

These tiny, elderly, white-haired ladies power so much goodness with their quirky kindnesses and generosity. They rarely want any recognition. They ask only that we keep chugging along: “Honey,” one recently said to me, “don’t you be weary in well-doing.”

Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of “Little Big Moments,” a collection of mini-essays about parenting, and “Tigers, Mice & Strawberries: Poems.” Both titles are available most anywhere books are sold online. Taylor-Troutman lives in Chapel Hill where he serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church and occasionally stumbles upon the wondrous while in search of his next cup of coffee.

 

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