(not so) random acts of kindness

Yesterday afternoon came and I had 4 hours before handing over the keys to the old house. I'd been cleaning for 4 days straight (after schlepping boxes up the stairs to our new house every day for 3 weeks before that.) and was so exhausted that I either started to cry or fell asleep every time I sat down! Suddenly K showed up, vacuumed the ground floor, swept the driveway and was just so generally cheery that I found the will to live and finished up just in time for the handover at 6pm.

This move has taught me so much about the kindness of friends and strangers and how big a difference little favors make during a turbulent time! I've had to learn to accept help from others and to be able to communicate my needs, and that's the only thing that kept me from stringing myself up from the nearest rafter. (That and the fact that our rafters are attached to the ceiling and you can't actually get a rope around them...)

Thinking back now I'm so grateful for all the little kindnesses-- a bullet point list doesn't do them justice, but I want to list some of them so that I can look back later and remember how lucky I was that I have such great friends and neighbors who:

• donated loads of boxes and packing materials
• explained the whole buying process in Germany and provided much needed advice
  
• showed up at random moments to help with schlepping / cleaning / moral support, etc
• helped S study for a tough German test
• brought us fresh homemade dinners on 6 of the evenings during the week that we moved
• dropped off an amazing care package with American snax, a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly so that I wouldn't have to drop everything whenever the kids got hungry
• painted the walls of the downstairs bedrooms
• brought me a tiny tea kettle, a mug and green tea bags so that I'd have a pick-me-up while working in the empty old house
• helped me pick out lighting fixtures because I seem to be missing the necessary skillz to do that myself
• came over with a fresh homemade crab quesadilla right at a moment when I thought I was going to keel over with hunger and fatigue
• came by at random moments to rescue my kids from ennui and an empty house when I couldn't be here to make sure they were clothed / fed / staying off of the streets.
• gave us a bottle of *awesome* homemade pear schnapps. (hot DAMN is it good!)
• gave us a potted plant to welcome us to the new neighborhood

Thank you everyone! I am so humbled by your generosity and hope to be able to jump in at just the right moment when you need it most!