Generosity Beyond Measure
A gift of trust
I cannot see the ocean from the front terrace. This terrace is comfortably furnished, and it overlooks the pool. Beyond that, across the street, my view includes the rooftops of a new villa development, nestled among a variety of palm trees that sway and bounce in the breeze.
The back terrace has a view of the ocean, but it is sparsely furnished (for now) and overlooks a parking lot and an overgrown empty lot before the eye reaches the azure shades of the Atlantic. It occurs to me that future construction on that lot could block the view of the ocean.
Both terraces are part of a beautiful, spacious, well-furnished apartment we called home for just over two weeks in a town in the Algarve region of Portugal. Our stay there got me thinking about generosity.
Our apartment in the Algarve was offered to us free of charge, by my dentist back in Oregon. In truth, I barely know her; I’ve been to her office for cleanings twice. But when I mentioned—during the first visit—that we planned to travel, and that our travels included Portugal, she offered her apartment without an ounce of hesitation.
I hadn’t yet been laid off, so travel was in the future at that point. I didn’t take the offer seriously then; after all, I was a new patient that she didn’t know very well. But after the layoff, when I went back for another visit and mentioned that travel was imminent, and the offer was repeated, we exchanged contact information.
While we were in Tavira, I reached out, expecting perhaps to be directed to an Airbnb link. I still wasn’t expecting to be given the gift of a free stay in a new apartment in the western Algarve region of Portugal. But that is exactly what was offered, and the timing was perfect. My dentist was actually staying at the apartment with her daughters, and our arrival date coincided with her departure. She seemed to be on the fence about putting the place online for short-term rental, explaining that she mostly wanted to keep it available for her people. We are honored to be considered among her people!
I don’t ever expect to be able to reciprocate in kind, or to be generous to someone else on that scale. We stayed in the apartment for more than two weeks, and it wasn’t just a boon for our budget; it was also a relief to have a comfortable place to stay while we recuperated from the colds we each came down with. All she asked was that we let her know if the place needs anything else to make it comfortable for guests.
My upbringing came with a huge dose of “don’t impose” energy; as an only child with a disabled mother, I was expected to take care of everything myself. I’m not accustomed to receiving true selfless generosity, and actually asking for something—even something that was freely offered—is outside of my comfort zone. And yet, I strongly believe that the only way we’re going to survive as a society is to be generous with each other. It doesn’t have to be on a scale such as we received from my dentist. As Erin asks in her weekly Feel Good Friday chat, did you give, receive, or witness kindness this week?
How is generosity occurring in your life?
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Maybe I need to change dentists 🦷 🙃
Strangely enough, my dentist offered us to stay in her home in Santorini when I told her we were going to Greece. I was also a new patient. Europeans seem to have generous natures. Her place was lovely. She even had her nephew take us out to dinner - her treat!