Oh, that is really extraordinarily kind!
Thank you so much, Bookbox!!!
There is something really so ... extraordinarily touching about this will.
You know, researching this stuff, you become so inured against it that it's not often that you find yourself with a lump in your throat.
But I noticed, that after reading this, I had to blink a couple of times quickly, extra hard.
It could well be my lively imagination, but the entire scene stood so clearly before my inner eye.
The young mother (she sounded very young), the little child, the few goods she had distribute, how she and her husband probably came up with this as something fun to do while waiting for the inevitable ... Well, you know, not fun-fun, but ... For a woman who probably hadn't had that much influence or been able to take that many decisions. And was very young. And they come up with this as something to do to lighten some of her last days ... And probably also to give her a feeling of some measure of control in a situation nobody has controll over.
And then to actually go to the court to have it proven, when it must have been so much easier not to, and really, so very unnecessary to do so.
He had to give her permission to write it, he is named executor, he is the main beneficiary ...
And still he went to all that trouble to have it proved.
He must have loved her very much, I think.
And the court that granted it.
You know, there is this pervasive notion in society at large (or at least by some very carrying voices) that kindness and compassion are these wishy-washy modern concepts that needs to be rooted out so that we, I don't know, may return to the wild and hunt each other for sport or something the way it was meant to be. But there have always been people who were capable of extraordinary kindnesses. As well as the opposite.
Even if these turn out not to be our Aylmers I am still so glad we decided to have a look at it
Thank you so much, Bookbox!!! This was utterly wonderful
I really can't thank you enough!
