Francis Gay

A picture can paint those most important words . . . thank you

A sideways look at life:

Ken runs an art gallery and framing shop. He inherited the business from his father. It’s a pleasant working environment and people are generally happy to pop in and have a wee natter about the art.

This one customer was polite enough, but a little reluctant to chat. He mentioned that a painting from Ken’s dad’s gallery had been one of the first things he and his wife bought together when they set up home. Then he seemed to lose himself in the art. He selected a painting, chose a frame, and paid for it. When Ken suggested that the man’s wife would love it, he turned towards the door. “Give it to a young couple just starting out,” he said. “Maybe someone who likes it but can’t afford it.”

“Then he was gone,” Ken told me. “He was a man of few words. But I think he was saying thank you for a happy marriage.”

Get the picture?

Polly was having a dark day at work. Funding for a project had been cut, her boss wasn’t happy with some of her outcomes, another project didn’t seem to be achieving the desired results.

Then she got a message from Iain. He’s been part of a literacy project she’d set up.

She knew he’d learned to read and had found a job. What she didn’t know was that being able to read at last had given him the confidence to ask a girl out.

They’d fallen in love, got married… and he’d sent a picture of their new-born baby girl. “We called her Polly,” he added.

“Sometimes we can’t measure the results of what we do,” Polly told me.

“And projects that don’t turn out how we expected can still have wonderful results.”

One message, and a useful reminder, made Polly’s dark day a whole lot brighter!

Sarah was playing a matching game with her 20-month-old daughter, Angel.

She spread out the wooden tiles with colourful pictures on them and her daughter would match the clown with the clown, the train with the train, the flower with the flower, and so on.

At this point daddy (Graham) came in and told her how clever she was.

Angel went through the whole set again for her daddy.

“Match…. clown. Match… ball. Match… apple.”

After she had completed the set she reached up to stroke her parents’ cheeks and said: “Match… Mummy… Daddy.”

Sarah tells me she always thought she and Graham were meant to be together, a “match” made in heaven if you like.

How nice to have an Angel confirm it!

The men in the cafe were determined to put the world to rights – as long as they could do it by shouting at each other and drinking coffee. When the waitress came over, I apologised for the noise.

“I like all that enthusiasm,” she said. “And you’re smart guys. But you need to bring all that intellect in. Focus it a bit more.”

So, they started discussing local issues. All the same frustrations were there, but the volume went down a little and the level of thought went up a little.

“No, no,” she said, bringing fresh coffee. “Bring it in further still. What can you do about… well… you?”

Thereafter we sat in near silence. Lost in thought.

It’s easy to rant and rave about things we can’t impact but, in the end, all we can really change is ourselves. Of course, in doing so… we change the world!

Sunday afternoons relaxing, Stresses disappear, Precious hours with family, Those we hold so dear, A game with the grandkids, Full of smiles and giggles, But years pass so quickly, Soon they’ll not be so little.