Birthday Surprise for Dorothy
Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end
Scott Adams
Dorothy enjoying her 85th birthday
Dorothy Bailey of Black Friar Court got more than she bargained for when she was asked to leave her flat for the day to allow essential asbestos removal works to be carried out.Lead Resident Liaison Officer, Adam Berry, noticed that it was Dorothy’s 85th birthday on the day of her works.
In an effort to make the day a little special for her, Adam arranged a bit of a surprise. He kitted out the Respite Flat with balloons and bunting, bought a birthday cake and presented Dorothy with a birthday card. When Dorothy thought it couldn’t get any better, Adam popped out to get Dorothy some lunch – her favourite – pudding and chips!
Dorothy and Adam spent the day together talking about her experiences over the years. Dorothy has lived in Blackfriars Court for 39 years, so she has seen many changes. Despite her time within the block, she was still very apprehensive about the works. Adam told Dorothy about his plans to hold Reiki sessions, which might help relieve her anxieties about the forthcoming works. Dorothy loves the idea – and was the first to sign up!
Dorothy’s grand daughter and son-in-law were also invited to celebrate her birthday, but were unable to come along. But when Dorothy’s grand-daughter, Caroline, heard about Adam’s little act of kindness, she was moved to tears, and sent in a lovely e mail to thank him…
“Hey Adam… can I just start with saying YOU are AMAZING!!!!!!! You have made one little old lady VERY happy!! She’s actually looking forward to having the work done on the flat now so she can go over there to see you!!! ha.. (she was dreading it before).
You made her feel so special on her birthday and for that we are all truly truly grateful!!! She said you couldn’t do enough for her, she loved her cake, her flowers, her balloon and she said you even went out early to get her a chippy dinner!! She felt like a mini celeb ha.
I love you for making her feel so special as she is a very special lady to us. Just wish I could have joined in fun too I would have loved that, sounded great. You actually make me feel really emotional on how kind you’ve have been. You’ve put a right little spring in her step (and walker ha).
I just needed to stress how not just me, our whole family appreciate your time and effort in making her feel so comfortable because the reality is you don’t have to, you could go and do your job and leave and not give it a second thought really as I’m sure a ot of people do. So it just means so much that you care, but not because you have to but because you actually genuinely do and THAT is the difference!! We wanted her up here with us whilst it was going on, but she’s still so independent that she wanted to be at home and do her own thing and so she should but now were happy she’s happy.
Everyone should know what a fantastic job you are doing!! Especially when they are your grandma or older relatives you want everyone to treat them like you would, with love and care and that is exactly what you are doing!! So keep up the good work.
Ooh and I think she’s quite excited about the reiki too although I do not think she’ll ever pronounce it correct!
Again thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!”
Caroline