In uneasy times, a little kindness makes things better

This is the second of two parts: Shannon Moore and her children stood on the front porch, a safe distance from 90-year-old Marjorie Conder, who stood in her doorway holding the two dozen eggs the Moores had brought her.

The kids wanted to know about her life, so she told them she had been a high school English and journalism teacher and recently self-published a book, “‘Furriners’ in Appalachia,” about her time in Kentucky.

Shannon asked if Marjorie had experienced anything like this pandemic.

Her children hung on Marjorie’s every word as she told them how she kept her three kids away from public pools and big crowds when polio was prevalent and worried if they got sore throats or fevers.

“But it wasn’t like this,” Marjorie said. “It was just a matter of being cautious.”

This reminds her of what it was like during World War II when gas, sugar, butter and meat were in short supply.

They grew vegetables in their “victory garden, and her mother canned tomatoes and peaches. Tissues were scarce, so her mother cut up a sheet to make handkerchiefs.

Everyone was limited to two new pairs of shoes a year, and her brother grew so fast that her parents use their allotments to him.

“I was a kid,” Marjorie said. “But I was still aware of the togetherness of our country.”

Shannon and her children made her feel that way again.

“In this time of fear and uncertainty, it warms my heart to know that people are kind and caring and concerned about others,” Marjorie said.

Friends and family email and call to make sure she’s OK. She does the same.

“I think maybe one of the good things that is coming out of this awful pandemic is that people are showing that they care for each other,” Marjorie said.

She is grateful to Shannon and her family.

They made her feel safe.