It’s wet and cold. Autumn has arrived. Of course. It always does—just in time for Anzac Day.
Yesterday, Frank told me about our new neighbour, Izzy, and her serious medical challenges.
Anzac bikkies felt like the only possible response.
I went shopping. Bought the ingredients. Made the bikkies.
Took a batch over.
She was so grateful.
She filled me in on her actual situation—much worse than she’d told Frank.
I patted and stroked Rufus, their annoyingly barking dog, while she told me the whole story. He lapped up the attention.
She is just 32, with three small girls.
Her mother, Stacey, is staying to help. Her sister too.
Life can be unbearably cruel.
Walking home, I realised I felt… kind. A word I would never have used for myself before.
I hadn’t set out to be kind. I’d simply acted.
We notice things like this all the time.
A neighbour struggling. A stranger having an off day. Someone just slightly out of place in the flow of things.
Mostly, we keep moving.
Not out of indifference—just habit. It’s not our role. We don’t want to intrude. There’s a quiet assumption that someone else will handle it.
But sometimes, something shifts.
The noticing doesn’t stay contained.
It moves.
And before you’ve quite decided, you’ve stepped into it.
I didn’t take responsibility for her situation. I didn’t stay or try to fix anything.
I stepped in, briefly. Then stepped back out.
Participation, without obligation.
It’s not the only time.
At Woolworths, picking up ingredients for those same Anzac bikkies, Mary is at the checkout.
An old timer at Woolies. I call her by name. I’ve never done that before.
I comment on the brooches pinned to her uniform—coloured stones that remind me of my grandmother.
She lights up.
Just for a moment, the transaction shifts.
More human. Slightly off-script.
Attention sometimes does that.
Now I’m back in my own life.
Rain on the garden. The smell of biscuits still in the kitchen. An afternoon with my book.
The same life.
But not quite the same.
You didn't plan it. You just made the bikkies and THAT's the whole thing really
Love how your writing makes simple acts of kindness life changing. Such a feel good piece. Glorious way to start my day. ☀️