Kindness in Chaos

I can only describe the last five months of my life as SHITTY.  Sorry if that word offends you, but anything less that “shitty” would be sugar coating things.

First, my sweetheart broke his collar bone on our very first dip in the ocean of our first day of vacation.  Ouch.  

Taken a half hour or so before he broke his collar bone while body surfing...

At the Urgent Care - frozen peas on the injury while awaiting x-ray results...

We thought that was bad, until….

Just a week or so later, my sister was diagnosed with glioblastoma (brain cancer).

Celebrating my birthday in Florida with my sisters - 6 days before Annette was diagnosed with brain cancer
 (she is the one in the middle - we had no idea she was sick)

Kayaking in Florida - we paddled the wrong direction and had to work hard to get back UP CURRENT
and in a huge storm that blew in.  Sherry and I did it while healthy, Annette did it with a brain tumor!

A couple of days after major brain surgery - still smiling

After her brain surgery, but while she was still in the hospital in rehab to recuperate, my dad’s blood pressure went off the charts low and he ended up hospitalized, too.  Luckily, both family members were in the same HOSPITAL but on different floors, so I basically spent all day and all night going from one floor to the other visiting and talking with doctors and nurses.

Patient #2 (Dad) visiting Patient #1 (Annette)

My dad’s mystery illness was never really pinpointed (well, they figured out that his heart was in “a-flutter” and gave him some new meds to control that, and his blood pressure went up with fluids, but why it all started was a mystery). 

All of this time, I was living in Omaha to be close to my family, only seeing my partner when he could fly in from DC every few weeks for a couple of days.  But one night he texted me very late saying that someone had DRIVEN INTO OUR FRONT PORCH.  Literally.  Crashed into our house.  Took out the front gate, the front steps, part of a stone column, a flower planter…  Totaled 2 cars – the one that ran the red light and slammed into car number 2, pushing it into our home.  Luckily no one was injured, but a couple of months later and we still do not have a gate or steps…

Oh my...

This is the view from the porch when David came out the front door...

Pretty lousy parking job if you ask me...

 

I popped into town for 3 days to sleep in my own bed and see the destruction...

Fast forward through the late summer/fall – my sweetheart’s collar bone healed.  My sister graduated from rehab and started radiation and chemo.  My dad, though very stressed about my sister and his wife with Alzheimer’s, was doing ok.

My DAD surrounded by his 3 daughters

Then he had a heart attack (the sort that the doctors bluntly told us is called a “widow maker” and most people do not make it to the hospital after having…).  Then the attempt to put in a stent or stents to open up the 90% blockage was deemed a “no go” and a double by-pass was done.

And juuuuust when he was doing better – walking a bit at the hospital, sitting up in the chair, making us laugh again – a nurse called in the middle of the night to say they were “coding him”.

So yeah – he died November 17^th.

Like I said, it’s been a shitty summer and fall.

But in the middle of it all, a mysterious kindness activist appeared…

One Sunday morning, David sent me a video and photos, saying that magically a teeny tiny work crew had appeared in the rubble of our front steps!!!!  There were bulldozers, tractors, a very diverse crew of little workers…  All set up by some lovely, unknown neighbor!!!!!

A WHOLE CREW of workers and equipment magically appeared!!!!

David added the adorable sign

To say that the kind act made me smile is an understatement.  I had a grin from ear to ear.  WHO had done such a magical thing???  These little secrets are things that I myself love to do, but who reversed the magic and presented it to US??? 

Have no fear - the workers are here!

The scene is swarming with workers (and rubble, and bits of car and flower planter...)

After basically being gone from July – November, I got home last night at midnight.  We cannot use the front door (because, hello, no STAIRS) so went in the back door.  (Well, technically, my honey went in the front door after climbing over the side of our porch, then when through and unlocked the other door for me, don’t ask…)  Anyway, I did not see the recent addition to our porch disaster until this afternoon, so I do not know if the mystery kindness activist added it TODAY or earlier. 

But look – THEY DECORATED THE RUBBLE FOR CHRISTMAS!

A SNOWMAN!

Who CHANGES COLORS!

This little light up snowman was found on the corner of our porch!  He runs off a battery and even changes colors!

And they put up actual CHRISTMAS LIGHTS right over the stair rubble, that run off a solar panel!  Hahahahaha!  The lights are not working – we need to check them tomorrow in the daylight.  It might be because we live on a busy corner (hence the car crashing into the house…) and so it is not dark enough with street lights for them to turn on?  But they are there – magical little fairy lights strewn across what once was stairs, a rail, a flower pot, etc.  I love it!!

So, I just wanted to say THANK YOU to whoever the mysterious Kindness Activist is.  You have made a very, very difficult time in my life a wee bit lighter with your whimsy.  You brought me smiles, and made me believe that things are not always going to be this, well, this shitty. 

KINDNESS COMES IN ALL FORMS.  Sometimes it takes the shape of a tiny plastic construction man or a little glowing snowman.  If we just open our eyes, and our hearts, we can see it.

Thank you.