Author Julia
For my last birthday, my youngest son Eddie gave me a signed card with his gift, that says in Italian: Mamma diffonde amore immenso in piccoli gesti (Mom spreads endless love with small gestures). I framed the card, and it has been on my desk for over eight months now. Every time I notice this phrase, my heart fills with warmth and an incredible feeling of tenderness of the written words. And so, thinking about what I would like to share with the readers of our magazine, I decided that the “small gestures” topic would be relevant.
We are used to making big gestures in honor of some holidays, such as birthday, New Year, March 8th or the recent Valentine’s Day. For these events we buy gifts, flowers, toys. Of course, that is great: we want to bring joy to the loved ones and declare our love for them. I think that showing love to our family and friends can be different, and small gestures are of great importance. In fact, these can be words of gratitude, inspiration or love, as well as any of our actions to show that this person is dear to us.
I’ll give you some examples from my daily life. Last week I was going through my boxes where I keep signed cards, old photos, my notes and various small things that bring me great joy when I look through them. I found a fifteen-year-old photo of me with my friend, that I, unfortunately, have not seen for the last five years. I recalled our happy times and decided to take a photo of this photo and send it to my friend. Also, I added some words of gratitude about the period of our lives that was captured in the photo. I received a response that brought tears to my eyes, because she also thanked me for every moment of our friendship. It seems to be a simple thing… What needed to be done? Take a photo of an old photo, write a few precious words and send it. A matter of five minutes, but its value is priceless!
Every day I write words of encouragement and inspiration to people who are dear to me, and to the Lord, as I have many words to Him. So these messages are endless!
I will give you another example. Lately, we have been baking banana bread, and this process brings us joy, as we can spend time together cooking. It’s interesting that our bread turns out different every time, even if always delicious. I necessarily give my friends some pieces, wrapping them in a beautiful napkin and tying them with a ribbon. By treating our friends, we pass on a piece of our love and affection. Again, these are small gestures that cost us nothing, however we give our friends not only some pieces of banana bread, but also show our attitude towards them.
I can list the “small gestures” that fill my life without end, the ones that I make to other people, and that other people make to me.
I live in a city with a very large number of people of the “golden age” (over 65). They don’t stay at home, but go out for a walk along the streets of our city or along the sea, sit in a café and chat. It often happens that when they cross the road at the zebra crossing, and I drive by in the car, they move very slowly and wave their hand at me as an apology, to which I wave back smiling and blow them a kiss. They smile and move on happily! These are small gestures that bring great joy.
The other day I went to our market to buy some products, and a greengrocer decided to tell me “a little story of his life”, that I was carefully listening and smiling…
It took a bit long and a line of customers had already formed behind me, but the greengrocer, watching my interested eyes, could not stop… At the end of his monologue, he looked at me carefully with tears in his eyes. Then he said: “Grazie, Signora!” for listening to him. So, I answered: “Con piacere!” and happily went on shopping.
On my way home, I thought perhaps that man needed to speak out, and I was the very person ready to listen to him…
In our world, everyone is in a hurry. It isn’t clear where to, but they rush in a hurry. Often we don’t have enough time for such, at first sight, “nonsense”, but I believe that sometimes this “nonsense” can be worth everything! It’s a word said at the right time, or a moment when you are ready to listen to another person, or an air kiss that will make someone’s day happy…
These small gestures mean so much!
I’ll give you another example from my life. In October 2024, I performed on the stage of one of the Milan theatres in a musical organized by the dance studio. It was my first dance performance on the theatre stage, and, of course, it was exciting and joyful at the same time. A couple of days before the performance, my youngest son gave me a present — a set of dance figures to hang on the wall, and inside each figure there was a light bulb, in order to be used as lamps.
The figures represent three different couple dances: waltz, Argentine tango and rumba. We hung this triptych on the wall of the living room, and I was delighted with this gift!
Since then, every evening, turning on these three dancing couples, I have been feeling incredibly happy. I realize that this gift was thought out to the smallest details, knowing my love for dancing. This gift contains everything: faith in me, support in the very activity that I practice, beauty and even something more that only I feel. This is also a manifestation of great love in small gestures!
On the card that I began this article with, there were several more phrases written, one of which says, “Mom believes in you and your dreams.” Yes! I infinitely believe in each of my children, in my friends and people who are in my social circle, besides I believe in their dreams!!!
Finishing this article, I want to inspire you to pay attention to the small gestures of love you could give to someone around and let it make somebody’s life a bit better.
Translated by Anastasia Moskalenko
Main photo by Valeriia Miller
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Основательница Сoffee Time Journal
