This is a picture of my friend Arthur holding my dog Henry Hound’s paw. It was taken on Christmas Eve last year, and it is one of my favourite photos ever.

Arthur and I became friends about eight years ago through a Manx Telecom digital inclusion scheme. What started as Live at Home volunteering became a weekly Wednesday lunchtime chat that quietly anchored my week. We talked about technology, life and whatever small things felt worth noticing that day.

Arthur lived with Parkinson’s, and everyday tasks took enormous patience. Eating a meal could take a long time, holding a drink wasn’t easy so he hadn't had a hot drink in years. Yet even after describing a challenge, he would smile and say, “There are lots of people who have it worse than me”.

That was his way. No self pity... just kindness, humour and those exceedingly twinkly eyes that made me smile the moment I walked in.

He loved his iPad and embraced it with curiosity and determination, even with shaky hands. We learned how to adjust the accessibility settings and he played solitaire and dominoes for hours and hours grin

We were friends, sharing time, to the backdrop of Lingo or The Chase on Challenge TV.

I saw him just the day before he passed away yesterday afternoon, with absolutely no sense that it would be the last time... and I think that’s why I wanted to share this today.

We so rarely know when an ordinary moment is going to become a fixed memory, or that it's in lieu of a forever goodbye.

This isn’t a post looking for sympathy, it's to honour someone who inspired me greatly and deserves to be remembered and shouted about.

It’s a post to celebrate someone who showed me, every week, that how we show up in the world is a choice.

Kindness is a choice... as is gratitude for what we have and for trying to make others around us smile.

I will miss my friend and my Wednesday anchor more than I can say, but I’ll keep remembering him by trying to carry that spirit forward.

So instead of “sorry for your loss”, I’d love this to be something a little different.

💬 What’s one small thing someone has done recently that made you smile or feel grateful? What's something you can do today or over the weekend? Maybe we can fill our February Friday feed with moments that make us appreciate the people around us a little more🥰 🌸