A blog about anything or sometimes about nothing. A place for me to write and post my feelings or opinions on things ranging from parenting to waiting tables to living in America to daily observations and my personal experiences. Sometimes I just want to give people a humorous read and make them laugh at the end of a trying day.
Showing posts with label helping in times of need. Show all posts
Showing posts with label helping in times of need. Show all posts
When we first moved to Orlando I introduced Massey to a girl I worked with, around her age. She is the sweetest kid ever. She is always positive and upbeat...and for the life of me (after learning her story) wonder how she manages it. Her mother suffers from debilitating MS and is totally wheelchair bound. When I first met this young girl, her Dad had just been diagnosed with cancer and was scheduling chemotherapy. That's the way Massey came to know her, going with me to drop dinner off for my coworkers' family every week or so, just to help out a little bit.
All said and done, he finally recovered and was in total remission. I'm sure it was a huge relief for them all.
A few short weeks ago, Cancer reared its ugly head again in the form of tumors found during a routine check up. His insurance company denied to pay for chemotherapy this time.
Nice. (not!)
Luckily they found a drug company who would pay for the chemo.
My daughter and her friend started a go-fund me to help with the bills while he was going through treatment.
We're off to a good start and hoping to be able and help quite a bit, considering gofund me keeps a percentage.
I'm going to go pitch it to the head of our Human Resources and see if maybe the company could help out this team member.
Wish us luck and will keep you posted. Feel free to click the above link and read their story and throw a little Love their way if you can. You get by with a little help from your friends.
I met a young woman here in Orlando recently. I don't know her very well, we've only spoken a few times. She's very quiet...unlike me. We spoke for a few minutes at length the other night and I found out she was working two jobs and seeking a third one. I could tell she had a lot on her mind. I asked if she had any kids? She has four. I asked if she was married? She is. She was worried about making her rent that month and was in jeopardy of losing her home. I asked if the husband was helping her? He wasn't. She quietly said she had asked him to leave, and seek help for his anger issues.
Long story short, he'd become abusive. Her older son is scared to be around him, after being hit by the coward. She told me she supposed she would have to go to the battered womens' shelter that night because she didn't have enough money to pay her rent.
I told her to wait just one more day and got her contact information, telling her I may be able to find her some help and would get back in touch with her.
That story broke my heart...and really ticked me off. To be abusive to your wife is bad enough but to pick on a child...your own child is beyond horrendous and more than cowardly.
I thought about it all night. I knew I didn't have enough money to give her for rent, having just paid my own car note and cell phone bill.
This young woman needed some help and needed it quickly. She was doing her best and had kicked the loser out, taking herself and her kids out of harms way.
After wracking my brain, I made the only phone call I could think of the very next day.
I called my brother and told him Tim and I had both decided what we wanted from him for Christmas this year if he felt like shopping early. He said he would be more than happy to have some ideas from us.
I told him this young womans' story and asked if he could help her pay the rent as a present to us both.
Of course he didn't hesitate for one second, immediately saying yes. Massey went by his office for me and picked up his check while I got ready for work. I called my new friend and asked if she could come by where I worked to pick up a check that night. She said she didn't get off work until late but certainly could if I'd still be there.
She was flat out flabbergasted. She thanked me over and over again, saying she couldn't believe how someone had agreed to help her after only recently meeting.
It is the best Christmas present my brother has ever given us and certainly the best present this young woman ever expected to get.
I did a little investigation work of my own before asking my brother for this gift, just to be safe since I was asking for such a huge favor.
I've always been a pretty good judge of character and turned out my instincts were indeed right.
All this did really, was give her a little breathing room and some time to regroup. Sometimes that's all it takes.
Her landlord couldn't believe it when she called the next day to say she had his rent money, in its entirety. He asked how she had managed that?
She told him, "because I was blessed."
You know, as bad as it got for me and Tim at times...was nothing in comparison to what this woman is going through. Tim has never raised a hand to me and certainly never to any of our kids. We worked through it together, as a team and as parents. Yes we argued and sometimes pointed fingers but was always in frustration rather than anger or violence.
On a side note...I have come up the bomb of all presents for my brother this Christmas. He's not easy to buy for but certainly deserves more than a shirt or golf balls this year.
My new friend called me to say she slept easy and peacefully that night for the first time in a long long time.
Of course you know me...the writer.
When I gave her the check I also gave her one of my nicer note cards with a pre stamped envelope and asked her to please write my brother a thank you note and would be all the thanks necessary.
True Fact.
Without our many blessings from God, family, friends and yes even complete strangers...Tim and I wouldn't be where are are today, and I will be forever grateful to and for them.
My next call will be to my sister, who has worked for and with battered women for years. She can tell me how to best help get this woman as much help as we possibly can.
All it takes... is to step out of your own comfortable life for a moment, realize how blessed you truly are and do whatever you can to pay those blessings forward.
I went by the post office today to buy a book of stamps. The line was long and slow moving. Before I went in the door, passed two women taping up about six large boxes for mailing on the trunk of their car. I noticed a couple of them were packed with food items. I smiled, said hello and simply asked "Puerto Rico?" One of the women replied they were for family members. I simply told them "God Bless you all...and I'm so sorry this country has been so slow to react to help those American citizens. It's embarrassing, and I apologize."
I got inside and found a long and slow moving line. Every person in there besides me and one African American dude were Hispanic, shuffling forward in line, moving a pile of taped up boxes along with them...doing what they could to help out family and friends back home, living in more than catastrophic conditions.
I have been a server for almost forty years and worked with more Hispanic people than a lot of people ever will. They are quite literally the back bone of the restaurant industry. They are some of the hardest working people I've ever met, from bussers to dishwashers to utility to cooks to sous chefs. Off hand I can't think of one lazy Hispanic person I've ever worked with. I'm sure there are a few, but more often than not, they are hard working, great producers and many of them send part of their paycheck back home to help other family members.
He's from Puerto Rico and most of his family is still there. They don't have power, they don't have water, they don't have gas or diesel for generators, they don't have ice or even food. The hospitals don't even have power.
How can this government, our government, my government have waited so long to help these American Citizens?
Everyone here, in their air conditioned house with mobile devices and internet wants to go on and on and on about NFL players (peacefully) protesting police brutality while American citizens are literally dying, living with inhumane conditions while enduring tropical heat.
That's what we need to be going on and on and on about. That's what should bother people the most.
Another thing which bothered me was seeing all those people in the United States Post Office paying to mail all these heavy packages. One woman in front of me paid seventy dollars. Can't we allow these packages to be mailed for free?
I don't have a lot of money, but have all the necesitites and even amenities of a pretty great life. I have a job where I can make more money any time I pick up an extra shift and walk out the door with it...that night.
Here's what I can do.
I can take this stash of water we have stockpiled in our garage when Tim's company delivered it before and after Irma hit and can take all the baby wipes we bought, wondering if we'd need them to bathe with if the water went out and ran out. I can take the huge bag of every size battery known to man that we have and drop it all off at the American Red Cross to be shipped to Puerto Rico. I have so many clothes I never wear, spare flip flops, even extra paper towels in the garage. I have enough spare sheets to make beds for ten people. I have enough canned goods to feed us for two weeks.
None of this will go very far in Puerto Rico, but if every stateside American did the same, it would.
My offering is a grain of sand, but if the other 323.1 million people living here did the same, it would make a huge difference to millions in Puerto Rico, with nothing gone but things you had to spare.
Katrina wasn't kind to NOLO, Texas was devastated recently as well, the Keys took an awful hit too and even people here in Orlando are still flooded...but they are here. We can reach them and help them rebuild.
The Alchemist is the first book I've ever read with a highlighter in my hand the entire time. There are enough inspirational quotes in that book to change even the sorriest person on earth.
I recently bought a copy for someone who has been struggling. I thought they needed to read it. I started to loan him my copy but I have so many things high lighted in mine that it feels like a part of my soul.
I have faith.
I have doubts, just like I had today, but also think that positvity begets positivity. I've been through a lot this past decade...but millions and millions of others have gone through so much more and actually makes me grateful for our tiny downward blip on the grand screen of life.
I gotta give credit where credit is due.
I left the computer in our bedroom while finishing this blog, went into the kitchen and asked my husband as I passed by, who was sitting three feet away in our tiny temp rental living room what song tied this blog together?
Bam!!
This guy...we met, both broke as jokes but flourished then failed but always remained steadfast.
It's been a rough week. We've had rougher so maybe that's an overstatement but it's still been a doozy.
Talked to the doctor from GVS today about my pup's eye surgery. I was extremely bummed. They are concerned about putting Ham under anesthesia for cataract surgery, which is considered cosmetic/ elective surgery. They feel he could live a healthy life being blind but the risk is too great for having him put under for the surgery. She said he would have to undergo a full cardio / pulmonary exam to see if his heart was healthy enough and mentioned it was pretty costly.
Ham has had so many humans (I call them humans instead of people because of the humanity they have shown Ham) help get to this point I just don't feel like giving up on the sweet boy. She is going to work up an estimate on the cost of the full exam and get back to me. It's been a blessing having so many love my pup and get him through all these exams, shots, vaccinations and heart worm treatments, not to mention the gas they have bought me for trips to and from the vet and even supplying dog food. I could have never EVER done it on my own and will be eternally grateful for the tremendous support Ham has received. It's been none of my own money and have no qualms about admitting that. My money has been spent on bills and helping to keep a roof over ALL our heads.
My husband just came home from work after picking up Zach from work since my car is sick too, sitting in the garage refusing to run. Tim's feeling is "Ham's happy and healthy thanks to all these people. Let's just let him be."
I'm a mother of three kids and three pups. "Just let 'em be" has never been an option for me, whether it relates to my kids OR pups. Maybe it should this time..I just don't know.
I'm contacting the foundation tomorrow which offered to help with the surgery to see if maybe they would be interested in helping with the cardio/pulmonary testing. You never know until you ask.
On a different note, Massey leaves on Friday for Disney World. It's spring break and a friend from school's family has offered to take her along with them and even has her a ticket for the parks. Needless to say there will be no souvenir money and she'll be going on a shoe string budget but with my car sick will be nice to have her car home and at my disposal. At least she will have a nice Spring Break in Disney, drinking from water fountains when she gets thirsty. I think she's pretty lucky!
That gives me a week to work and save up money. My little car, that I love dearly has a bad bearing(sp?) in the back wheel. It has four shocks that are shot, two tires almost bald and the rear end needs to be replaced. The radio hasn't worked in over a year (I've enjoyed many a silent ride) and neither does the air conditioner but is a money pit which seems to have no depth or end and one I can't afford.
The guy Tim traded in his Mercedes to for his older Volvo and Massey's older Focus has yet another older Volvo for me! He's gonna give us $500 for my little totally broken down car and when I can scrape together another $500 (while Massey is gone for a week and I can work every day) let me pay weekly. (or as I like to call it Weakly)
Work has been funky too. I did great at the furniture store three weeks in a row but bombed out this past weekend. Seems sales are the same, whether selling food or furniture. You have good weeks and bad weeks. So I have to kick in fifty bucks to send Massey to Florida. I get to use her car for a week and work like a demon to make enough to get me a new , used car.
It's crazy how life seems to work out. If you continually work hard, somehow, someway it somehow happens.
I've been doing it for over three years and have lived to tell the story. That's a success story in itself.
I think my new Mantra will be "Somehow, someway...it will happen if you work like a Mo Fo."
Glad to have two jobs. Glad to be able to give my kids some kind happiness, not that they earned it totally but are pretty good kids and if I can give them a little glimpse of the good life maybe it will make them all strive for more.
Still in a quandary about my Ham, but just glad he is alive thanks to so many!
Got up today and got into action. I cooked a full fledged dinner and had it simmering on the stove when Tim left to pick up Massey from school. I hopped on my Johnny Dear and cut my front yard my neighbor's side yard and weed eated both.
I jumped into the shower but was still picking grass out of my hair when I got to work. It has been slow the last two nights so I KNEW I would bank tonight.
Didn't happen. I was freaking by seven thirty. I had three checks hitting my bank account tomorrow and thought I KNEW I could cover them.
Note to self: Tim is wise NOT to have a joint account with me.
My last three tables made it happen. Two guys left me a phat tip, had another table that tipped me over 30% and my last table put me in the black (for now.)
Had a table of a family. The mom and daughter got there first, waiting on the son and father. When the dad sat down I noticed he was handing out printed google maps to each of the kids. When I was in the kitchen another server said "I think the kids at your table are crying."
Yes they were. I know the family although they don't really know me. Our kids have gone to school together for 12 years but they live in an upscale subdivision that I dreamt we one day would. They know me because I am a waitress and they eat out a lot.
After serving them and trying to avoid looking into their teens puffy eyes the Dad asked for the check. When he handed me his card he said his kids were worried that I thought they were abusive parents when in fact he had just told them he got a promotion and the family was moving....pretty far away.
The daughter was distraught so I asked her what year she was in high school? She was a senior but her Dad interjected that they wouldn't be moving until she graduated. I told her "Heck you will be away at college and they will be visiting you more than YOU want!"
So like the big mouth I am I told the kids "They could have brought you here to tell you your Dad just lost his job and you were all moving into the Motel Six because underneath the bridge at Turner Field was full up!
Tim lost his job two years ago and we went from a six figure family to a family living off of the kindness of others and welfare at one point.
Life is always a perspective and always taken for granted in my book.
My last two tables left me a phat tip and once again I will be in the black...for now.
But that is all that matters. I struggle every day but as long as I struggle and God sees me trying, it will be okay.
The yard is cut, my checks are covered and I will wake up tomorrow and do it all again.
As God as my witness...I will laugh at these slim picking days years from now but always be grateful for how I made it through them.
Doing it again tomorrow and for as long as the Good Lord allows.
I'm Good...wouldn't trade my life, even if it was for one of the Kardashian's. Beauty fades but resilience shines !!
My sister... my mentor...my saving salvation in my life...had been in dire need of help. Her husband had open heart surgery, out of work for six months total...from the time he got sick, was finally diagnosed and till he is released from the doctors care. The entire time this has been going on...two amazing friends have saved my sister time and time again. Actually they were her friends to begin with, but now I consider them mine as well. The wife went to the high school that my sister taught at....also the school my college room mate went to. The husband (I don't know where he went to school...I just know he came with the package of friendship). They live across the street from my sister. They have brought meals, they have visited at the hospital, they have visited since Harvey came home...They have been there "Literally" EVERY step of the way. They also attend the same church as my sister (I tend to home school my kids in religion). They organized for love offerings to be taken at the church to help my sister in the one way she needed most...financially.It was an amazing outpouring of love that the church showed...and one that was RIGHT ON TIME. Beside that, they are incredibly funny people (MY KIND OF PEOPLE). I thought that I was pretty funny until I heard some of their stories. They are genuine, they are honest...and they are true Christians and true friends. They stepped in and totally SAVED my sister when I couldn't. They took a burden off of her that was entirely overwhelming her and distracting her from the medical issues at hand. They will FOREVER be my heroes (and my sister's)....and they will always be considered some of my most valued friends and acquaintances. Friendship is a marvelous "PERK" to have in your life...and one not to be taken lightly or for granted. I value my friends, they are the foundation of a secure and stabilized life. They are your safety net, they are your back up....and they ALWAYS have your back. It would be a sad existence to live without knowing that you had people that love you so much...that they would , and DO help you in any spot, situation, or time of need. My sister is such a GOOD person that she has people falling over backwards to help her. And if the situation was reversed...she would be (and has quite often) the first person to lend a hand or help in any way that she could. But I want to express my gratitude to these two "ANGELS" that have pulled my sister through, and done it with "AMAZING GRACE".......How sweet is THAT sound? To my sister...and me....it is a beautiful melody...and a memory for a lifetime...Thanks Julie and Danny...(sorry that I used your names...but you deserve it) and know that you both mean the world to me, Cin, and the bills that you got paid by your selfless acts of love and friendship. Come on over next time we get together...and I will be the first to hug your necks, and the first to tell you how much I love you. Thanks for loving my sister...But she makes it easy to love her, doesn't she? I love you both, and just wanted to let you know how much you mean to my sister...and to me! God bless you both, as you have so richly blessed my sister. Till next time...COTTON
