Yesterday a reader sent me a message after reading a note I wrote a few days ago about the anxiety of renting.

The constant awareness that the ground under your feet isn’t really solid. That a landlord can decide to sell. That rent can jump overnight. That your entire life can suddenly be packed into boxes again.

He said the piece stayed with him.

Then he told me he had been out for a walk and started thinking about the practical things that keep life moving. Car insurance. Road tax. MOT.

And he asked if he could help cover those things for me.

This morning, on International Women’s Day of all days, I opened my phone and saw the transfer come through.

I’m sitting in my kitchen trying to hide from the boys because I’m crying.

I won’t share his name, but his kindness landed on a day when I had just written about how heavy life can feel sometimes.

The internet can be a strange place.

But every now and then someone reads your words and decides to quietly make life a little easier for another human being.

It meant more than he probably realises.

With so much love,

Salwa