Kindness and sharing carry on

It stands out among the cookbooks in the glass covered case, its spine announcing the name, “Sea and Shore,” in sparkling gold letters.  It was a gift from my sister, Joan, who knows how much I love to wander through all things Cornwall.  Written by a young woman who spent her youth in Cornwall and who became a chef, the pages are full of reminiscences, recipes and photos of the land of King Arthur, Merlin and Camelot and my mother and grandmother.

More specifically, this lovely book reminded me that time changes all things.  My grandmother and my mother, both from this area in England, would find the tone of remembrance the same, but so much in the telling would have been strangely foreign, with references to objects and foodstuffs that are relatively new.

My grandmother’s formative years were without electricity, phones, television, automobiles or air travel.   For her daughter, my mother, electricity and phones as well as radio and automobiles were as common as the air we breathe and for us, my siblings and I, all that were common to my parents were modified by the electronic era.  For my children, their world always included electronics and social media.  And for my grandchildren …

We each lived in different worlds, with different ways of solving life’s challenges, more comfortable with those with which we lived as children.  We spoke similar languages, just enough to be almost fluent in each other’s patois.

It wasn’t only this book that brought this truism home.  Yesterday, I clicked on a Facebook page that offered pictures of famous people as children.   Other than Tina Fey, I didn’t recognize another “famous person” on that list.  They fell into the category of things like strange foods that we are supposedly adding to our meals and fads that remain odd such as pumpkin spice everything.  Where were the “famous people” that I knew?  No Robert Redford, No Cary Grant and, for sure, no Perry Como… they are relegated to another generation’s culture.

My daughter and I, in conversation the other day, discussed how difficult it is to make sense of cultural changes that happen so fast that we find it hard to accommodate the changes, planned and unplanned, that happen because of them.

Still, while our heads swim and our minds and hearts are assaulted by the demands of these dramatic changes, there are still some things that filter through that are true whether they were acknowledged by my grandmother, my mother, myself or my offspring.   Kindness and sharing have no cultural eddies.

Here is one of them:

Yesterday we surrendered four oh-so-sweet kittens, born to a young feline mother who wandered into our home to give birth under by daughter’s dresser seven weeks ago.  We took them to Friends Forever in Pennelville, where I was awed by the dedication and  caring of the all-volunteer staff.  The facility was pristine in cleanliness and the care that was given to our little kittens exemplary.  They were immediately given their shots, de-wormed, relieved of fleas and placed in a clean and spacious cage.  Eventually, they will share a wonderful space in the kitten room where potential adopters can see them.  The concept, its physical manifestations, created by Casey Newton-McClaren, is the outpouring of the donation of time, treasure and talent in the name of animals without voice.  Abandoned, surrendered or rescued, cats, dogs, gerbils, birds, etc. are taken in, cared for and adopted out to scrupulously-vetted families.

Of course, Friends Forever needs financial support, but also needs volunteers – foster parents, who take on the responsibility of caring for animals until they are adopted, with full support from the central staff, as well as volunteers who can give some time to the facility itself, the main building and the new barn as cleaning staff.  Who doesn’t know how to put on a pair of gloves and clean?   Donating a few hours a week means that more puppies, kittens, dogs and cats will find their forever homes.  Yes, something as basic as cleaning a cage can mean a life is saved and that is important, whether you learned to live life at the turn of the twentieth century or today.  Who would have thought that knowing how to clean would be so valuable?

How do I get from my cookbook to this?  No matter how the culture changes, no matter how something held in memory is challenged by something new, no matter how many inventions change our lives, no matter how recipes are rearranged to accommodate new spices, gadgets and such, the kindness to God’s creation remains the same.

Think seriously about how just a few hours of your time can make an appreciable difference in the lives of those with no voices.  Call Friends Forever and see how you can help – 315-668-1003 or email at  foreverfriendsny@ gmail.com.