The kindness of strangers: I needed a place to take my burnout and my dog, then a woman I’d never met sent me an invitation
A woman related to my memoir so much, she offered to lend me her holiday shack. When we met in person, we couldn’t stop talking
- Find the rest of our series of stories on the kindness of strangers here
The email landed in my inbox late one Friday night in the middle of winter, 2023.
I was not cheerful. For weeks I’d been wrestling with a difficult article I should long ago have submitted to an editor. As a freelancer, the longer I spent on it, the longer it would be before another cent would hit my bank account. I’d been to the dentist that morning. I’d booked a vet appointment for my dog that afternoon; I feared she might have yet another ear infection.
This would be the first time I have ever written to a person in a personal context, without knowing that person. In your newsletter this week you said you were looking for a place to crash on the coast.
I’m about to get the keys for a shack I’ve bought on the South Coast. It is extremely basic, just a one-bedroom 55sqm Fibro Majestic, about 150 metres from the beach. I’m having it cleaned and painted but after that you would be welcome to stay there for a few days/week for a headspace break, gratis. I live elsewhere so you’d have the place to yourself.
Your book helped me through a traumatic marriage separation from my husband who had a personality similar to your ex’s, so I would be very happy to help you in return.
My intention is just for my children and I to use the house and I want to let people who have helped me through the last few years have a nice time away too. There are a few special peeps I know who don’t have a lot spare in their budgets that I think deserve a bit of TLC/random acts of kindness. My personal sociopath-next-door was clever and successful, so a silver lining to the trauma is to be now financially comfortable. I have decided I would like to share some of that in a way that He Would Never – ie, for no ulterior motive or personal gain.
[#item_full_content]
