Come and heal with us at the Mansion. The residents live in their own world, if you know them, you can come and share it with them, they are open and generous for the most part. They know the meaning of connection. It is not an easy world, but it is a safe world, shielded from the outside world, good, and this week, bad.

They live amidst the small pleasures and gestures of the world, today, a beautiful Fall day, four or five of them were sitting out on the porch, cutting out sticker leaves and wearing them in celebration of the season. I laughed with them and joked with them, we traded stories from our lives, I asked them about their lives, and they asked me about mine.

It was easy sitting with them, and i felt safe also, and I felt myself healing from the awful beginning of the week. Life does go on, especially at the Mansion, where life is never taken for granted. They are so quick to smile there, they love being photographed, as it turns out. They love that someone cares about them and pays attention.

They seem more like a family to me, a family I did not ever have and did not ever know, a family I imagined I could sit with safely and laugh, but never could.

You can write Peggie and the other residents of the Mansion at 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.