Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this blog post are solely those of the author.

“It is the little things that make community”.

“I want to make Poplar a place that feels like home to all her residents (old and new) that is how we can build a community that can thrive and expand and be rich in opportunity for all.”

This episode dealt with a Ghanian Family and their experience of living with sickle cell anemia, an elderly suffragette being forcibly removed from her home, and Violet standing for the local council. For some reason lately—I have found I like to try to notice the little things - the details that sometimes we do not notice at first … but these things can be our teachable moment!!

The scene with Sister Monica Joan with Miss Milgrove—when she was thrilled to find a book and showed reverie and honored that they shared a love of an author, a love of a topic, a love and excitement with this something that held importance to both of them. When she stated she would return with a first edition book - the two of them were connected. This may seem like a small detail; however, what I took out of this encounter was if you want to truly engage with a meeting of the minds there has to be a genuine connection based on respect and that can lead to an openness to the encounter. Sister Monica Joan in that one moment helped to build rapport – to show respect and a door of trust was swung open.

On reflection I found it interesting that the two people that Ms. Milgrove opened up to and trusted were a young child and Sister Monica Joan. Both were people that did not judge her and accepted her for the person she was. She had a large impact on them—and the last scene with the distribution of things that truly mattered to her—they were rewarded with the honor of receiving them.

“Sometimes never letting go becomes a letting in, an opening up, and surrender itself can be the bravest step of all. Courage cannot move mountains but it can show us how to climb … find a way … forge a path that we believe in. And emboldened we stand firm knowing where we stand … where we are headed … and where we can belong.”