The kindness of strangers: I needed a place to take my burnout and my dog, then a woman I’d never met sent me an invitation

‘I thought about the reason Alex had given for wanting to share her fibro cottage with me. I thought about personal wounds and how, when they heal, the scar tissue can be beautiful.’ Composite: The Print Collector/fotograzia/Getty Images

The email landed in my inbox late one Friday night in the middle of winter, 2023.

I was not cheerful. For weeks I’d been wrestling with a difficult article I should long ago have submitted to an editor. As a freelancer, the longer I spent on it, the longer it would be before another cent would hit my bank account. I’d been to the dentist that morning. I’d booked a vet appointment for my dog that afternoon; I feared she might have yet another ear infection.