By SUSAN DROMEY HEETER, Joyful Musings
Last week I was walking my trusty dog, Bennie, down the street in little Newmarket when we came upon a table filled with fresh flowers in seltzer cans. Along with the display was a card that read, “Take One!” So, Bennie and I continued our walk with a bouquet, a small bouquet of kindness, a moment of color and texture and smell, a moment to muse joyfully on beauty.
Those flowers MADE my day. Really. I teared up carrying my little can, not realizing how much I needed a little hug of joy, a little whisper of “Hey, hope you’re OK.” We all need a little kindness, little moments of joy, little smiles of noticing one another. It may come in a “hey, go ahead of me”, it may arrive in a “Hi there!” It may arrive in a handwritten note. I muse joyfully on all forms of kindness and am reminded how much I thirst for it in 2025.
It’s been a year on so many levels. I’ve felt the kindness of prayers from those I love and from those I do not know. My cancer treatment moves forward, mercifully uncomplicated but daunting nevertheless. I muse joyfully and gratefully on the North of Boston Cancer Resource, a cancer support organization whose mission is “to enrich the well-being of people living with cancer by empowering and supporting the whole person.” Their mission is pure kindness and through their program I’ve been gifted massages, Reiki, art therapy. It all helps and, ultimately, translates to pure goodness and healing. The practitioners of these services are kindness personified. If you know anyone who could benefit, do reach out. They have been nothing but spectacular.
And kindness is not always exciting nor spectacular, rather, muted comfort. A friend brought over a case of ginger ale; another offered to walk the whole lotta dog, Bennie, a neighbor dropped off warm banana bread. My sister even brought back a pizza from Red Rose in Springfield, delivering it all the way to New Hampshire. If you know Red Rose pizza, you know that was SPECTACULAR kindness, real Italian pie is the utmost in healing.
As we ebb toward the end of 2025, as we flow into the holiday season, it seems only right to finish up with spectacular kindness, with muted kindness, with flowers in seltzer can kindness. Kindness costs nothing and has the most beautiful of repercussions, a pause, a breath, a burst of color. I muse joyfully you will be the recipient of kindness, the creator, or both. We all benefit and, dear joyful musers, we have no idea who might need it the most.
Susan Dromey Heeter writes from Newmarket and often from the road where she joyfully muses on life in the fast and slow lanes. She drives a stick shift, can also ride a unicycle and recently retired after 30+ years of teaching. Dromey Heeter finds joy primarily in Milk Duds and people who make her laugh, not necessarily in that order. Follow Susan @dromeyheeter on Instagram and/or @BudgetVogue63. She can also be reached at dromeyheeter@gmail.com.