Jo Hastings: The simple thing my daughter’s nursery did which made me cry tears of joy

It truly is the simple things in life that make it a better place.

Today I cried. I cried tears of happiness. I am classed as severely deaf and have been for about five years. It’s a struggle and its hard but when someone does something nice and it seems normal to them, it takes my breath away.

I collected my three year old daughter from pre-school and the manager called me into her office. ‘Oh no…’ was my initial thought ‘What’s happened…?’

The Manager said ‘Please don’t be offended but we have printed out the words to your daughter’s nativity play and some of our songs and we have reserved you a front row seat so the you can hopefully hear and follow what’s going on.’

Offended, No! Taken aback, yes! Without being asked or prompted this pre-school made such a thoughtful gesture and they will not understand how much this actually means to me.

Every day is an effort to educate people on how to talk to me, without shouting, and to be able to carry out normal stuff is hard work.

This seemed such a normal thing for her and her team to do. She explained that she sees all the parents as part of her community and if one is struggling in a situation then she feels like she hasn’t done her job properly.

Under normal circumstances I have to rely on my husband to tell me what’s happening and that normally happens at home after any event as it’s not appropriate to recap at the scene. This lady actially wanted me to enjoy the play there and then, truly awesome.

I cried tears of joy, I hugged her. I’m not a hugger. It seriously made my day. And my Christmas!

Jo Hastings says “I am a mum of two small children, keeping busy, shattered most days but enjoying watching my babies grow.  Wondering how they will cope in this tough world.”