An Act of Kindness (Day 9): Opening the Women’s Bathroom

When we arrived last night, Domingo informed us that the Private Pilot Club does have toilets but no shower. This didn’t pose a problem as we have a shower bag. It isn’t the grandest shower in the world, but it does what it has to do.

The dogs are pretty much on their own, as are the cats, as is the macaw, as is the caretaker Domingo. We are all doing our own thing in the garden at our own pace, with us mostly sitting behind our laptops as it is an “off-line working day”, as we call it.

Maybe Domingo needed a bit more time to check us out or maybe he didn’t think of it earlier, I don’t know, but this morning he kindly told us we could use his bathroom (shower). He lives at the club and therefore has his own, very basic quarters for sleeping plus a bathroom.

We appreciate the gesture as showering underneath a normal shower head is simply a sensation compared to trying to get all your body parts wet under the thin stream of water from a shower bag.

The second step followed a couple of hours later. During the afternoon the very reserved Domingo walks up to me and indicates to follow him.

“Here, I opened one toilet for you. Women shouldn’t be using the men’s room,” he says and smiles.

I had no idea I was using the men’s room – I figured there was just one for everybody. These gestures of kindness have nothing to do with offering us something we might need – we don’t. Yet they touch us as we notice how somebody is making an effort to be of help to us somehow or to make our life a bit more comfortable in some way.

In both cases Domingo’s eyes twinkled; he had found a way to be kind to us, and that often makes people feel good and/or happy. It was visible on his face and it was that expression that made me smile.

To learn why I write about acts of kindness by a stranger, please read this post.