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She asked an older neighbor to watch her pets. He sent her a beautiful letter of gratitude.

"You brought back meaning to my life."

u/SnooCupcakes8607/Reddit

When older people get lonely, interacting with pets can be a game-changer.

Sometimes when we're in the younger, busier time of our lives, it's easy to forget—or not even realize—that our elderly friends and neighbors might be lonely. But very often, people who have long been retired, who may have already said goodbye to many of their friends or who have physical limitations that make it difficult to get out to visit people, can find themselves alone most of the time. Feelings of loneliness can lead to depression and other health risks, and even shorten one's lifespan.

A viral social media post offers a good reminder of this fact, but in the most heartwarming way. A poster named Dylan shared a photo of a typed letter with the caption: "I went on a vacation 2 weeks ago, and let my neighbor babysit my pets. Shortly after I got back home, I received this letter from him in the mail that made me smile and cry. I’d like to share it here."

"Good afternoon," the letter begins. This is regarding your vacation two weeks ago and how you let me babysit Smokey, Oreo, and Jennifer. I'd just like to give you a letter of thanks." (The letter doesn't specify what kind of pets Smokey, Oreo and Jennifer are, but the original poster later shared that they are a German shepherd, "the crankiest little beagle you’ve seen in your life," and a cat named Oreo.)

Then he continued:

I went on a vacation 2 weeks ago, and let my neighbor babysit my pets. Shortly after I got back home, I received this letter from him in the mail that made me smile and cry. I’d like to share it here.
byu/SnooCupcakes8607 inMadeMeSmile

"As you know, I'm an old man. You don't see me outside often anymore, as these joints aren't as lively as they used to be. To add to that, two years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, my dad got diagnosed with stage four colon cancer. After his death, I was left alone in my home. I don't have a wife or kids. I could go to sleep one day and never wake up again. Every day is just sitting around and wondering what I have done for this world.

Until I met Smokey, Oreo, and Jennifer.

Your pets are the cutest, funniest, and most troublesome (In a good way, don't worry, they didn't mess up my house too much!) individuals. They gave me the motivation to restart my life again. I started waking up early in the mornings. I began to take walks outside with your pets for the first time in years. Every 10 minutes, whenever I felt sad for a second, they would bark or rub against my leg and make me laugh.

The highlight of their stay was when I took them to the park. It was the longest time I've spend outside in a while. It didn't just bring back pet interaction, I also met other people, started talking, and made friends with a handful of fellow human beings. I was so happy to finally be able to talk with friends again, interact with others, and feel like I'm part of the human race.

I realize I sound very existential right now, but I'm telling the truth. It's nice knowing that I'm doing something for someone, even if it's my neighbor.

I adopted two dogs soon after. (You may have been hearing noise from my home, pardon them!) I now take regular walks to the park with them and talk with friends I made there. Anyways, I'd just like to say: thank you so much. You brought back meaning to my life. And that's all that matters.

Sincerely,

Robert (P.S. I think it's time for you to mow the lawn, haha!)


senior citizen, older gentleman, nieghbor, dog sitter, happy elderly manRepresentative image of Robert.via Canva/Photos

People absolutely loved Robert's letter—and Robert himself, judging from some of the comments:

"Robert is a national treasure and I take anything less to be an insult!"

"I wouldn’t just mow my lawn, but Robert’s too. Forever."

"Robert really is the good in all of us. He must be protected at all costs."

german shepards, dogs, pet sitters, dog breeds, dog in grass, happy dogA German shepard sits in the grass.via Aleksandar Mitrovic/Unsplash

Some people related to Robert, having found a new zest for life after getting pets of their own. Others joked that the whole letter was just an elaborate, "Midwest-nice" way to tell the poster their lawn needed attention. Some doubted the veracity of the letter, but even if it's not real, the comments from people sharing how their elderly loved ones had been helped by neighbors sharing their pets with them show that animals really can help people who are lonely find more connection and purpose in their lives.

Pets can bring much love into our lives and, according to the American Heart Association, can also help us live longer. Interacting with dogs boosts the production of "happy hormones" such as oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine, which reduces stress levels and provides a greater sense of well-being. Regular walking with a dog is also a great way to exercise. Dog owners also have a unique advantage when overcoming a serious health problem. Dog owners who suffer from a heart attack or stroke are less likely to die than those who are not.

It's a good reminder to check in with older folks around us and to share the joy of our pets with people who might be lonely. You never know whose life you might touch with your furry friends.

This article originally appeared three years ago.

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Joy

92-year-old former ballet dancer with dementia wrote a poem that has us all wrecked

What a beautiful gut punch.

Photo credit: Canva

"I am still a dancer made of song."

Humans have been writing poetry for thousands of years, communicating feelings and ideas in beautiful, powerful ways that prose just can't quite reach. Poetry can be hard to define, but you know it when you see it—or rather, when you feel it.

Emily Dickinson once wrote, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” A poem hits you somewhere—your brain, your heart, your gut. And one poem that packs an incredibly moving punch has come from an unlikely source—an elderly woman with dementia.

Poet Joseph Fasano shared a message from a fan who shared that they had brought his book, "The Magic Words: Simple Poetry Prompts That Unlock the Creativity in Everyone," to their mother, a 92-year-old former ballet dancer living with dementia. The mother was excited to write a poem, and they slowly worked through a prompt from the book together aloud.

This poem was the result:

"Let the days be warm

Let the fall be long.

Let every child inside me find her shoes

and dance wildly, softly, toward the world.

I have a story I have never told

Once, when I was small,

I looked up at the sky and saw the wind

and knew I was a dancer made of song.

I am still a dancer made of song."

Wow. What a testament to the power of poetry to reach beyond our usual modes of communication, which dementia so cruelly disrupts. In a few simple lines, we're able to see this woman as she might see herself, as the human living under the veils of age and disease: "I am still a dancer made of song."

Poetry prompts can help people express themselves

The person who shared the poem thanked Fasano for "helping people find their voices," which is exactly what his book of poetry prompts was meant to do.

The Magic Words book"The Magic Words" is a book of poetry prompts from Joseph Fasano.Amazon

In the book's introduction, Fasano shares that he'd been invited to speak to a class of second graders in New Jersey in 2022 to share "the craft and magic of poetry." As part of his efforts, he came up with a poetry prompt that could "help guide their imaginations" and "unlock the images, thoughts and feelings inside them, without asking them to worry about how to structure a poem." He called the results "astonishing." When he shared one of the students' poems on social media, it and the prompt took off like wildfire, as people who never thought of themselves as poets felt empowered to share their imaginations within that framework.

From 7-year-olds to 92-year-olds, anyone can benefit from the self-expression that poetry facilitates, but many people feel hesitant or intimidated by the idea of writing a poem. Fasano writes, "Poetry is what happens when we let ourselves be," and this idea seems so clear than in the former dancer's poem above. Dementia can create roadblocks, but poetry provides a different avenue of communication.

younger woman looking at a book with an older womanCaregivers try many different ways to communicate with people living with dementia.Photo credit: Canva

The arts can be a powerful tool for people with dementia

Using poetry to help dementia patients communicate and express themselves isn't just wishful thinking. Studies have demonstrated that cultural arts interventions, including poetry specifically, can be beneficial for people with dementia. In fact, the Alzheimer's Poetry Project (APP) aims to use poetry as a means of improving the quality of life of people living with dementia by facilitating creative expression. "We do not set boundaries in our beliefs in what possible for people with memory impairment to create," the APP website states. "By saying to people with dementia, we value you and your creativity; we are saying we value all members of our community."

Poet Gary Glazner founded APP and shared a story with WXPR radio about how he came up with the idea while studying poetry at Sonoma State University:

“I applied for a grant and got a grant to work at an adult care program. The moment I love to share with people is there was a guy in the group, head down, not participating and I said the Longfellow poem. ‘I shot an arrow into the air’ and his eyes popped open and he said, ‘It fell to earth I know not where.’ And suddenly he was with us and participating. It was just this powerful moment to see how poetry could be of use to elders but specifically with people with dementia."

Whether we read it, write it, speak it or hear it, poetry has the power to reach people of all ages in all kinds of mysterious ways.

You can follow Joseph Fasano on Twitter and Instagram, and find his books on Amazon.

This article originally appeared last year.

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Joy

Woman receives unexpected letter from her mailman of 22 years and it leaves her in tears

"He watched me grow up, and I watched him grow up, too."

sauceaccount06/TikTok & Brian Patrick Tagalog/Unsplash

Madison Vaughan has had the same mailman for 22 years, which is not uncommon. Being a mail carrier is a great, steady, and even lucrative government career — so people tend to stick around for a long while, often keeping the same route for years or even decades. Madison initially got to know her mailman, Tim, when she was a kid living with her parents. When she moved out, she didn't go far, moving into an apartment down the road that was still on Tim's route.

So when it came time for Vaughan to finally move away for good, she felt it would only be right to say goodbye to the man who had been there throughout so many big moments in her life. As a kind, simple gesture, she gave him a card and a little money for the holidays, just as a Thank You for all his years of friendly service. What she never expected was to get the response that she did.

Vaughan recently shared a video on TikTok of her opening the lengthy and heartfelt card that her mailman, Tim, left her in return.

She struggles to hold back her emotion as she shows off the card, which was left mysteriously in her mailbox with just her name on the front.

"He wrote such a thoughtful thing," she says, opening the card and holding in the tears. Inside, there's a letter several paragraphs long, and in beautiful penmanship, too!

"Good luck on your move," Madison reads from Tim's card. "I will be retiring at the end of the year anyway. ... It has been a pleasure being your mailman."

She then attempts to put into words why the gesture means so much to her. "He has watched me grow up, and I've watched him grow up, too. ... This ruined me, I'm going to keep it forever."

Watch the whole beautiful moment here.

@sauceaccount06

y’all im so unwell, love my mailman

The next thing Vaughan didn't expect was the overwhelming response to her video.

Though she only has a few hundred followers on TikTok, Vaughan's video quickly launched itself into the viral stratosphere.To date, it has over half a million views. In the comments, there was an outpouring of love from people who felt similarly about their own mail carriers, people who had been present in their lives for decades.

Here are some of the best comments and sentiments:

My childhood mailman came to my mom’s funeral and I lost it

my dad was a mailman and he used to come home and tell us about every kind person and every dog, cat etc. you'd have made his day

My mailman did something similar and wrote “from Mickey Mouse birthday cards to college acceptance letters, it’s been a pleasure to deliver them all” I cried

Grew up poor with few opportunities. Had the same mailman for 18 years. He came in my house while I opened mail from my dream college and celebrated my acceptance! Community = everything

My dad was a mailman for 20 plus years on the same route. When he died people from his route and the convenience store where he got his coffee everyday came to the funeral! Not all heroes wear capes.

My husband is a mailman and he hand writes personal thank you cards for everyone who gives him treats/cards etc for the holiday. He also gives all the doggies on his route boxes of biscuits for Xmas

Vaughan's story shines a spotlight on the importance of so-called 'background characters' in our lives.

Us postal service mail truck Photo by Joel Moysuh on Unsplash

Vaughan admits that she and Tim weren't great friends, necessarily, but that didn't make his everyday presence in her life any less meaningful. I think that's an idea we can all relate to.

If you stay in one place long enough, you start to see the same faces. I see a few of the same joggers every morning, the same cashiers at the grocery store, the same woman working the drive-through at McDonalds, the same guy walking his dog, the same dozen or so people who go to the same at the same time as me. Sometimes you chat with these folks and maybe even get to know them a little bit, sometimes there's just a silent acknowledgment, and sometimes maybe nothing at all. But regardless of how close, or not, you are, there can still be a sense of loss when it's time to say goodbye.

It also shines a light on the importance of mail carriers and the US postal service. In recent years there's been a push to get rid of the USPS and privatize the whole thing. But that idea ignores the role mail carriers play in communities, the lifesaving and important work of delivering mail every day on time, and the role the post office plays in a fair democracy. It also ignores mail carriers like Tim, who would lose their jobs and their routes, and even more importantly, all the little connections they make along the way.

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News cycle got you down? Let these 4 quotes from Nelson Mandela inspire you to act.

Freedom fighter, human rights advocate, prisoner, and all-around remarkable human Nelson Mandela was South Africa's first black president and first post-apartheid leader.

Not only did Mandela fiercely advocate on behalf of South Africans of color, he gave up decades of his life to do it. His visionary actions against South Africa's racist policies led to a 27-year imprisonment on Robben Island.

Photo by Stephen Jaffe/AFP/Getty Images.

Mandela's actions — from protesting to collaborating with like-minded revolutionaries to his nearly 30-year prison sentence — have been well-documented. But the world didn't know the details of his time in prison — until now.

On July 18, The New York Times is publishing hundreds of unreleased letters from Mandela to coincide with what would have been his 100th birthday.

In "The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela," over 250 letters to his family, friends, and colleagues reveal some of Mandela's thoughts and emotions during a turbulent time in his life.

Here are five of the key takeaways from collection excerpts:

1. Peace and harmony are possible.

Mandela held onto his faith and spirituality as a source of inspiration to continue fighting for the world he believed in. He wrote of the parts of the Bible that resonated with him strongest:

"The importance of the passages ... lies in the fact that they tell us of a way of life which would have brought us peace and harmony many centuries ago, if mankind had fully accepted and faithfully practiced the teachings they contain.

They visualize a new world where there will be no wars, where famine, disease, and racial intolerance will be no more, precisely the world for which I am fighting … "

2. There is a time for civility and kindness, and there is a time to fight for change.

Prioritizing civility and kindness is important, but there are always times when one must stand up for what is right. Mandela offered some blatant, important truths, noting that while one person is powerful, a group of people committed to a just cause can move mountains:

"It's a good thing to help a friend whenever you can; but individual acts of hospitality are not the answer. Those who want to wipe out poverty from the face of the earth must use other weapons, weapons other than kindness.

This is not a problem that can be handled by individual acts of hospitality. The man who attempted to use his own possessions to help all the needy would be permanently ruined and in due course himself live on alms. Experience shows that this problem can be effectively tackled only by a disciplined body of persons, who are inspired by the same ideas and united in a common cause."

Photo by Trevor Samson/AFP/Getty Images.

3. Humans are complex and resilient.

In a letter to his wife Winnie, Mandela discussed his attempts to find solace in solitary confinement and described the complexity of the human experience — including our capacity for resilience:

"Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others — qualities which are within easy reach of every soul — are the foundation of one's spiritual life.

Never forget that a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying. … No ax is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise and win in the end."

Good people make mistakes, but the determination to do good prevails.

4. There is power in unwavering hope.

In another letter to Winnie, Mandela made an impassioned plea to use hope in the face of adversity. Having read the work of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Mandela expressed his unshakable belief in the power of positive thinking:

"The man who says: I will conquer this illness and live a happy life, is already halfway through to victory. … Remember that hope is a powerful weapon even when all else is lost.

You and I, however, have gained much over the years and are making advances in important respects. You are in my thoughts every moment of my life. Nothing will happen to you, darling. You will certainly recover and rise."

Photo by Walter Dhldhla/AFP/Getty Images.

Nelson Mandela's letters reveal a man who was nuanced, thoughtful, and determined to do good. In our changing, complex society, his words offer important insights on how to continue fighting for a better world.

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