Sprinkling Resilience: The Power of Small Acts of Connection
“It’s a little thing, but it’s a big thing.”
That was the thank-you message Michelle Livingston received from a friend who had shared a screenshot of her daily joke board with her middle school son, still in Zoom classes during the height of the pandemic. Her son would always reply—sometimes with a “haha,” sometimes with a groan—but always with connection.
Michelle Livingston lives in Davis, CA—where I live, too! One of Davis’s most distinctive features is its extensive network of bike paths and greenbelts. Michelle’s home is right along one of the city’s most heavily trafficked paths, popular with bikers, walkers, and joggers. In early 2020, as anxiety and uncertainty over COVID mounted, Michelle—who runs the farmers markets for a third-generation family farm and was worried about her frontline workers—wanted something concrete to keep her grounded and connected to her community.
Then came a simple idea: