My hair is falling out. And I don’t mean the standard, typical hair loss. There isn’t anything typical about this. The stress. It affects everything. Deeply. So yesterday, I called around to all the salons in the area to ask for help. This morning, a very kind hair stylist offered to come in on her day off to chop my hair off for me. It will still fall out, but at least it won’t feel like I’m losing as much… losing more than we’ve already lost this year.

What a tremendous act of kindness for her to do this. To her, it may have seemed insignificant, but to me, it meant the world. As she chopped off the inches and I watched them fall to the floor, I tried to imagine the weight of the last year falling off my shoulders, too.

These little acts of kindness right now are what help us survive.

A few days ago, while Greg was lucid, he asked for a rare splurge: a Burger King burger. So we went on a field trip to Burger King. The cashier at the drive-thru was kind and patient. He very kindly offered my husband a crown. Greg was thrilled. We put it on him immediately, and he wore it for quite some time. I realized, for the first time in a long while, I saw that old familiar, playful glimmer in his eyes. What a treat, if only for a little while.

I love his glimmer.

As we wait for Johns Hopkins to process Greg’s latest referral, I am hopeful it will lead to more moments like these. Until then, I am holding on to hope. Hope and little acts of kindness.