Random Acts of "Kindness"

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BLOCKS

It ‘s too quiet! Nothing unusual is happening. Days, weeks pass. Obstacles are everywhere. Finally I realized the blocks are on. I don’t know what else to call them. This time I can only blame it on congestion that wouldn’t end and pain in my leg that wouldn’t go away. Even though I promised to go to the doctor this year, pain increased. I’d wake in the morning with plans for the day. After being awake for two hours, I was ready to go back to bed, all plans forgotten.

Going to the doctor didn’t help — pain still increased. Couldn’t think. Blocks still on.

Started to see a bit of light — Doctor on Monday, specialist on Thursday, MRI on Friday.

I should also mention that the pharmacist at the hospital shares the same name as my daughter in Florida. The technician who took my tests has the more formal name of my own. She took care of her father who not only lived with her but had Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s too. He has been on the other side three years. And the hospital is St. Francis.  Inquiring I asked which St Francis — Assisi or ??  The person I asked didn’t know but I recognized the statue holding two doves as St. Francis of Assisi. We have a long history, I was born on his feast day.

A little more light — Ham is a favorite of my family. Shopping at Aldi’s I noticed ham on sale –$5.00 off to be exact. The ham I picked was out of date, but a worker found a ham for me — 2 weeks before the expiration date.

Hints that maybe things are changing. Shopping at Jewel my son’s favorite salad dressing was on sale, so were hot dogs. “Help” is often found in sales, especially when I need the items, don’t have them on my list and are reminded of them in passing.

Chicago got it’s first measurable snow this Friday. My husband and I went out for breakfast and ended up at a restaurant I never thought we would go to. We walked. A gas main break changed our plan — it was announced on TV but I didn’t get the message. (The food at the new restaurant was VERY GOOD but VERY EXPENSIVE.) We were only home for half an hour when a friend’s son phoned and invited us to meet his mother at a new neighborhood restaurant. Sally moved from the neighborhood to a senior citizen apartment but he was her chauffeur for the day. I was too full to eat but I happily joined them for tea.

To top off the day, I found the hiding place for presents that had been hidden since before Christmas.

Thankfully, I knew BLOCKS WERE OFF!

I’ve already written many times that I don’t see or hear my friends in high places but they have ways to communicate with me. The nudges started again, increasing in volume. Write –WRITE — tell your stories.

It is important!

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DETOURS

I make plans, if not plans, at least I have a general idea of what it is I want to accomplish. Often GOD LAUGHS! And it happened AGAIN. We were celebrating an early Christmas on Saturday, it was Friday and I wasn’t ready. The house wasn’t completely decorated, the cookies weren’t made and I planned to do some precooking.

My husband had a bad cough, and I was concerned. I didn’t like his color, his cough nor his lack of energy. He has emphysema. Colds have often become pneumonia in the past. Friday morning, I signed him up at the minute clinic a short distance from the house. The nurse practitioner listened to his lungs and told him he needed a chest x-ray. She didn’t have the necessary equipment but a clinic a short drive from the house did.

Three hours later, chest x-ray and EKG taken, the nurse practitioner was concerned. She thought his cough might have been caused by his heart. She wanted him to go the hospital — Emergency to be exact, via ambulance. I didn’t think we needed an ambulance.

Neither my husband nor I had breakfast, not even a cup of coffee. I planned to stop for food on the way. We were advised that tests might be delayed if we stopped to eat. We drove directly to the hospital, no stops along the way.

Long story short — my husband was going to sign himself out of the hospital at 4:00 in the afternoon. Another EKG had been run. The emergency room doctor was concerned about the level of oxygen in his blood. He had a oxygen treatment. She was able to contact his primary care doctor and learned that the oxygen levels in his blood were always on the low side. He was released with the promise that if he had any chest pains he would return to the hospital immediately.

Five PM and we were finally returning home. I had been on the phone with our children throughout the day. I was TIRED and hungry. I hadn’t accomplished one thing that was on my to do list.

Did we really need cookies? Saturday our family gathered at our home. Except for the family in Florida, we were all present — adults, children and dogs. What better gift for Christmas? We didn’t miss the cookies.

Monday, we visited our primary doctor. My husbands breathing was better — no wheezing. I didn’t accompany him into the office, but remained in the waiting room talking to a woman who was grieving the passing of her son a few years before. More recently she had also lost a loved dog. I told stories from my life — “help from my friends in high places.”

I don’t know why we received a DETOUR or ROADBLOCK on Friday. I don’t know why I was prevented from baking or cooking. I don’t know if there was something seriously wrong with my husband.
We are home. His color is better and so is his cough. The cookies still aren’t made.

On Friday, I kept reminding myself that God was in charge and so He/She is.

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I recently wrote a thought ramble STEERING WHEEL concerning God’s Direction of my life and my tendency to want to direct my course. I recently met an acquaintance who is grieving for the passing of her fiancée. He had a stroke and she was his main caregiver until life changed and she was no longer responsible for his care. We were not close friends and I didn’t know of his passing. I could relate to her sorrow, I could also relate to the feeling of guilt that arises when you feel you have left a loved one down.

I experienced a great deal of guilt when we had to put my father, who had Alzheimer’s, in a nursing home because he could no longer walk. I spent a portion of chapter 10 in To Pap, With Love writing about my feelings. I also felt guilty when we had to send our Chocolate Lab, Mabel, home in July 2011. A neighbor’s comment helped take away my guilt.

It is not easy to accept God’s decisions or direction in our life. Have we been prevented from taking a planned trip? Why? Have we fallen and sprained or broken an important part of our body. Once again — WHY?? When life doesn’t follow the path that we have chosen — the question becomes WHY??

It doesn’t matter if the change is life changing – a failed marriage or romance, the loss of a friend or family member, the loss of a job. The change can be minor — a fall — sprained or broken body part, unplanned medical expense or emergency, unexpected bill, argument with a friend.

It is extremely hard in those situations to remember that God is in charge, He wants the best for us. Whatever the challenge in our life is, with His help, we can do it! We need to remember to ask for His help!

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STEP BY STEP

I guess it is time I join the 21st century. I have been trying without success. When we were in Florida, I used my daughter’s I-Pad and did such a good job of screwing it up it took her 20 minutes to fix.

My son let me use his I-Pad. We took it on vacation and I was able to use the GPS. Thankfully, I didn’t get into trouble. He wasn’t with us to fix it. Thinking positive, I took it to the country with us. Although I didn’t crash it, I wasn’t able to do anything either.

I have a regular cell phone. It just makes calls and takes pictures. You can’t play games or get all the new apps that are advertised. It doesn’t have a GPS nor does it talk to me.

My grandchildren, ages 3 and 6 are very proficient with their mom’s I Pad. I’m embarrassed.

My husband gave me a Kindle Fire for Christmas. I won’t bore you with all my failures. In order to use it, it has to be unlocked. Really? My son showed me how — evidently I didn’t pay close enough attention. Five minutes later, I’m frustrated — looking for a window to evict it.

Once upon a time, products came with paper books that explained how to use them. I miss paper.

I am making progress. I have hopes for me. I bought a stylus which helps me to type, or enter a password. I actually was able to access my e-mail. Progress.

I like to read books, turn paper pages. I don’t know if I will ever be comfortable reading e-books. I’m sure my “friends in high places” are already proficient using the smart phones, I-Pads and tablets. I’m not planning to ask for their help.

Hopefully I’ll spend some time each day getting comfortable with the Kindle fire. Step by step — I’m stubborn — I’m hoping to make it my friend.

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SPIRIT — BEHIND THE SCENES

Every once in a while, I’m aware that I’m receiving “help” from “the other side”. Evidently, that is what is occurring now. Why we are seeing this indentation is beyond me. Back to my original thought, if it hasn’t disappeared.

They are ALWAYS very active in my life at Christmas. I was on target with the things I wanted finished for Christmas. I planned to bake cookies on Saturday and Sunday. GOD LAUGHED. I had a high fever and spent those days in bed. I wish I could say that I have completely recovered from the sickness but I don’t lie very often.

The cookies did get made but they ended up being in the oven longer than necessary and  received more color than usual. Sad to say, that seemed to be the case for everything I made that week. No longer with a fever but far from normal.

Fringe benefit, while sick, I lost a couple of pounds.  The trick will be to keep them off. Christmas Day, anyone wishing for a white Christmas in Chicago, got their wish. A couple of inches fell this morning.

Family Christmas — Despite sickness and car trouble, we gathered at our house and enjoyed the family. Both children made out like bandits. Our granddaughter told me, the doll house that I received as a gift, was going home with her. It was a FAVORITE. Our grandson, age 6 and 3/4 was able to put together a Lego following the blueprint. Both of us were impressed.

Just for the record, if this spacing makes it onto the blog, I DIDN’T SET IT UP, NOR CAN I FIX IT. Welcome friends.

Evidently they are not too upset with what I’m writing, it hasn’t disappeared yet.

I received two unexpected gifts that I can only credit with “spirit”. I received a check for the grand total of 72 cents from iuniverse as royalty on books that were published in 2000 and 2005. I don’t know which book was purchased. The fact that they are still available is remarkable.

The second gift came as an e-mail offer from our mortgage holder. Since I don’t often go on line I almost missed their offer to refinance our house at a lower interest rate at no cost to us.

If I was healthy, I’m sure I would be able to detect more instances where they were active in my life. Sometimes, it is meant to remain just between us.

Transferring my writing to the BLOG, the spacing corrected itself. I guess some things, as well as happenings are for my eyes only.

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CHRISTMAS CARDS

My husband told me that I look at the world through innocent eyes. I guess that he is right. I prefer to look at the good in a situation instead of the evil. There is enough sadness and evil in the world to focus on it.

In my neighborhood, the mailboxes have gone into hiding. Three boxes that were on the corners near my house have disappeared. Talking to some of the residents in our neighborhood, I’ve learned that they aren’t the only ones. More have disappeared, whether it is cost cutting by the post office or plans to repair them remain to be seen. It is no longer easy to mail a letter. I’m sure I could give our letters to the mailman, but I never know who he or she will be or when they are coming. I dislike leaving checks out in our mailbox, hoping they won’t land in the wrong hands. Therefore I go for a longer walk. Thankfully I’m usually able to do so. I hate to think of a world without mail delivery. I don’t want everything to rely on the computer. I LIKE hard copies of our checking account, and bills. I still miss information, but on line, I would miss even more.

I know that some of the problems the post office is experiencing stems from the use of the internet. To date, I don’t pay our bills on line or do our banking. I know that many banks are safe, but I have heard of too many instances when accounts have been hacked. So, not only do I have innocent eyes but I guess I’m old fashioned too.

I like to read real books. To turn the pages, and (Don’t tell Sister) sometimes underline or make notes on the page.  I like to send and receive Christmas cards. A couple of years ago, I sent out a Christmas letter with the card. One year, the cards went out without the letter. I heard from many of our friends and relatives that they missed the letter. This year a letter was enclosed. Just a short note of the joys and trials of the year. Hopefully more joys than sorrows. This year’s letter announced my BLOG.

I like the internett cards. They usually are animated and are fun to watch. But I can’t keep them or hang them on the wall. I like receiving real cards in return. Sometimes they contain a short note telling me how things are going.  Some years I hang them on the arches. Some years, life is too busy. I like the pictures of the growing kids. I always keep the cards for at least a year. Many times the person who sent it goes home before the next Christmas. Then the card goes into my keep pile. Not only do I have their name, but a sample of their writing and perhaps a short note. Of course, the subject of the card, reflects the person too. Sadly, my keep stack gets bigger each year.

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IS THE MESSAGE GETTING THROUGH?

When I was writing To Pap, With Love, I had trouble sleeping past 4:oo AM. My father thought his brain worked better at that hour of the morning, and even though he was retired, he set his alarm clock to wake up. My aunt Connie agreed. She liked to be up that early. I DON’T AGREE! I think I need more sleep. To respond to this early morning wake up call, I wrote VOICES. A thought ramble in which “my friends” discussed waking me up, and keeping me up.

This morning, this idea popped into my head. I have discovered that if I verbally acknowledge that I have gotten the message, we can proceed onto other challenges.

Imagine if you will — a group of family members and friends on the other side, gathered for a morning meeting. I seem to be their favorite topic. Let’s listen in as I imagine their conversation.  Many voices are heard.

“Well, do you think she is paying attention?”
“I could hit here on the head! She would notice!”
“No! Give her a chance; she has been traveling so much she is tired.”
“She should be rested by now. She has been home for three weeks.”
“It took us two weeks to get her writing, posting things on her blog.”
“She only wrote because you had Bob (at restaurant, man carrying for mother with Alzheimer’s) remind her of how important it was to share her stories. She didn’t know we were behind the message.”
“But she started writing again. Mission accomplished!”
“I could bop her on the head!”
“I helped; I caused the books on the bookshelf to cascade.”
“So, she just straightened them out, removing a couple, making it harder to fall.”
“But she looked at the notebook. She was reminded of the website for purchasing pet angel ornaments.”
“It didn’t penetrate.”
“I could hit her on the head!”
“Is that your only idea?”
“It WORKS! She tries to think of what she is missing.”
“She posted THE CHRISTMAS TREE on the blog from last year. She read it first. She remembered Tidbit when she walked to the post office. I’m sure she will look for a new angel for the tree.”
“She isn’t exercising, losing weight!”
“I reminded her of her cookbooks, all the low fat recipes to try!”
“I guess we still have a job to do! At least she is aware of some of the messages we were trying to get through.”
“She has to KEEP WRITING. Tell her new stories. We can help!”
“We just have to keep trying.”
“She REALLY NEEDS our help!”
“I can always bop her on the head!”

After I wrote this thought ramble, I went to Joann Fabrics after some material. When I picked up the bolt of fabric, it bopped me on the nose. I laughed. Was someone listening? Did they like it?

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DO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR DREAMS?

I’ve read that we dream every night. I suppose that I do, but most of the time I don’t remember them. Sometimes I wake very tired, and decide that I must have been VERY busy while I was asleep. Then there are a few that stay with me when I wake. Sometimes, they are very good dreams, puzzling sometimes — I don’t know what they mean. Or they are normal dreams — but they must have some message because they stay with me. Then there are those that are troubling, that wake me — glad that I’m safe, that it was just a dream.

I had one of those troubling dreams Tuesday night. Dark storm clouds roared in — I wasn’t home and wanted to make sure my family and pets were okay. I returned to the place we were staying and got everyone inside. That is when I noticed the building next door had been on fire, charred wood rubbed against our window.

Dangerous storm, charred wood — definitely woke me from my sleep. It took a few minutes before I realized it was a dream, we were safe. Then I went downstairs. I noticed a red light on our dishwasher — it was still on, even though I started the dishes at 7:00 P.M. As I approached, I felt heat coming from the unit. I had a hard time shutting it off. It wanted to keep running. Opening the door, I noticed the soap had not dispensed, there was no water in the tub. Somehow the heat turned on, and remained on for more than eleven hours. Everything inside was too hot to touch. Luckily we rinse our dishes, so I didn’t have a lot of food that was baked on. The dishwasher was loaded, everything needed to be hand washed and soaked to a)cool off, and b) loosen any food that had baked on. The edge of a cutting board melted, our son’s round glasses were now oval.

At 7:00 AM, I phoned a repair shop and was surprised when someone answered the phone. The technician arrived by 10. But the news was not good. Our dishwasher was more than 10 years old. He determined that the problem was the timing mechanism, which opened the soap, turned on the water, etc., in other words — ran the program. Next piece of bad news, he didn’t have one, it would need to be special ordered. The total cost of parts and labor was over $400.

We are celebrating Christmas at our house on the 22nd. I NEEDED a working dishwasher. I DIDN’T WANT TO WASH ALL THE DISHES BY HAND. I remembered washing holiday dishes for hours in my grandmother’s kitchen when I was a child. Her kitchen was twice as big as mine.  I wasn’t sure spending $400 on an older one was a wise move.

I considered buying the same brand that had given us good service for more than ten years. I like to support our local businesses when I can.  When I called our local appliance dealer, he said that was the last brand he would buy at this time, the company had been sold, the product was being made in Mexico and requiring more service calls than normal.

He had a dishwasher that would fit our needs, which was delivered and installed today.

Black, heavy storm clouds, burnt wood — definitely a warning. I’m glad we didn’t actually have a fire. I will admit that it was not the way I would have spent money two weeks before Christmas. But I’m spoiled! I like having an automatic dishwasher.

My “friends in high places” get excited around Christmas. They are always happy to help.

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ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

Our younger grandchildren are growing too fast. Daniel used to love Thomas the Train and other trains. He is into Transformers now. Isa has no interest in trains, unless her brother is playing with them. We have a few plastic trains that are sitting in a bin gathering dust. “CHRISTMAS IS COMING” The reminder is everywhere.

In the quiet years before more grandchildren joined our family, I collected quite a few Christmas Village houses. In fact I had a large display set up in the room off our dining room and a Victorian village on our dining room buffet. Once Daniel was born, the huge village remained in their crates in the basement but the Victorian villager remained on the buffet. After a few years, the Victorian village was retired and a fishing village took its place. Both Daniel and Isa LIKE to play with the people and horses in the village.

I gave their mother enough houses to set up a small village but the best space for them is too high for the children to play with. “Gramma, do you have some houses for me? Would you bring them to my house?”
This request found me digging through stuff in the basement. The houses were not that easy to get at but I did find a few. In the process, I also found a dump truck for a one or two year old child. More toys that were gathering dust.

How could I get them to some kids that would enjoy them? Questions, questions, questions — no answer. Until today. I had to go to the post office to mail a letter. On the way home, I decided to take a short walk, passing by a store that had a sign in the window about a Toys for Tots pickup the next day.

None of the toys I had were new, but they had received gentle love and were in good condition. I asked the woman in charge if I could donate them. She told me to bring them in, if they couldn’t be used by the Toys for Tots, she was sure they would be given to the Salvation Army. Either way, they would no longer be gathering dust in my house. Some kids would be playing with them.

THANK YOU!

I’ve mentioned that the Blessed Virgin Mary, in all of her names, appears to be involved in my life at various times. My mother’s name was Marie. I wonder if that is were the link comes from. Either way, tomorrow is the feast day of Our Lady Of Guadeloupe. My father had her face in a framed photo. I didn’t know who she was, but I liked the photo and clamed it for myself. Years passed and the photo became damaged. I searched in vain for a replacement. One day, I saw and recognized the face I had been searching for. It was on a photo of Our Lady Of Guadeloupe. Just another game of hide and seek.

While my grandchildren are getting too big, too fast, I am growing old too fast. I would blame it on the season, trying to get too much done. And hopefully that is all it is. Yesterday I was at the bank, taking care of business. I was at the teller’s window. The form I needed wasn’t at the desk. I reached for my glasses and  they were not in the case I keep them in. I looked to see if they were hanging from my neck. NOPE! I must admit I panicked. I gathered up my passbook, money and forms and told the teller I would be back. I NEEDED to find my glasses. As I left the bank, I realized my glasses were where they should be. On the bridge of my nose, over my eyes. Evidently the teller didn’t notice or just thought I was nuts. My story gave many people a laugh that day.

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WHEN THE STUDENT IS READY

There is a well known saying that when the student is ready, the teacher will come. Evidently I was ready. High sugar has been a concern for awhile, not for me, but for my husband. I will admit that I knew carbohydrates: bread, pasta, white potatoes contained more sugar. But I didn’t know how to interpret the data.

Last night I watched a program on our public television station. The nutrionist gave a formula to convert carbohydrates to teaspoons of sugar. Total carbohydrates minus fiber divided by five equals the number of teaspoons of sugar in the food.  The goal — no more then 10 teaspoons of sugar a day. This morning, I looked at my husband’s favorite breakfast — English muffins with peanut butter and jelly and understood why his sugar numbers are up.

I won’t say “my friends in high places” are always around. Truthfully I never know if they are until they make their presence known. This week, for some unknown reason, stuff is falling off the high shelf in the pantry. I won’t mention how long some of the stuff has been up there. But why was it falling now?

Sometime in the past year, I heard a report that mentioned that as a person ages, they produce less acid in their stomach. One of the solutions given was to drink one tablespoon of unpasturized apple cider vinegar in a glass of water two to three times a day. I have been following that advice with good results.

We are going to our younger daughters this week. I usually take some apple cider vinegar with me. I transfer some into a smaller glass bottle rather than taking the bigger bottle with me. When my Floridian daughter was in town, she labeled my bottle as a urine sample. That bottle was up on the top shelf of the pantry. It no longer is. It is now filled and ready for the trip. Was that the message I was supposed to get? I don’t know.

Christmas is coming. “My friends” are ready to help! And we know I need all the help I can get.

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