Those We Briefly Meet Along The Path

I rarely post the same thing to my Rambings and Crafty blogs but I am going to cross post this because it's something I really need to say.

There are people we briefly meet along the path of our lives who touch us in some way that is so much more lasting than just that brief meeting. People who inspire us or teach us something, even if it's just a bit of courage. These are people that twenty years later still live in our hearts and memories and thoughts. A couple of minutes here or a chance encounter in the parking lot or friends of friends. I'd like to talk about one of those people.

Her name is Yvonne. She lives in San Jose. She has a wonderful husband named Jerry and four great children - three lovely daughters and a son who shines. While I may not know a lot about her, I have shared a couple of Thanksgiving dinners with her and a walk through a craft fair in Gridley once. She is a beautiful, smart, sensitive, creative woman who is an exceptional mother and wife. Even if I didn't know these things about her, I would know she is wonderful because she is dearly loved by my adopted sister Susan. If I knew nothing else about her, to know Susan loves her would be enough. That speaks highly of Yvonne.

Yvonne is one of the bravest women I have ever known. She beat cancer once. And after quite some time of being cancer free, it came back with a vengence. Right now she is lying in a hospital bed suffering and that is something that makes me cry. She does not deserve to suffer. Not this brave woman.

While we may not have had much more than a couple of meals together and a few conversations, her dedication as a wife, mother and brave cancer fighter has shown me that there are so many things to be grateful for in this life. Every morning we wake up, alive, is a miracle. Enjoy our children. Enjoy each breath. Why worry about the dust? What difference does it make if we're living in an apartment or a million dollar mansion? We're alive, aren't we? That in itself should be enough. And, for me, now, it is. I wake up each morning and am thankful to still be here. I enjoy everything I can no matter how small. I am an overly sensitve person. I cry over things that touch me that probably wouldn't touch others and things others think I should cry over, I don't.

I don't worry about the future any more. Things will work out however they should. I will enjoy being with those I love. I am really, really lucky to have a lot of those people. And while my health may not be the greatest, I am grateful for the good health I do have. And I am extremely grateful for those I have already met and those I hopefully will meet briefly along the path who have taught me that life is worth living and enjoying and cherishing each and every day. I look forward to learning more. I am grateful for having had the opportunity to meet these people.

I am grateful to have met Yvonne.

Stop. Breathe. Enjoy life. Love those around you. Be grateful. We get one chance. Make it count. I plan to.

Humble

I think we all need a power outage to make us humble. To remember what a miracle it is to have electricty. To have artificial light. Warmth. Hot water. Hot food. Telephones and computers and means of communication. In a lot of the world these things are merely dreams. How blessed I am to have access to all this and more. I count my blessings daily but today I'm going to count them again and give thanks for them again. And pray that someone for whom these luxuries are only a dream can have their dream come true. Why worry about the little things. I can clean clothes and not have to use river water and rocks. I can go somewhere and pick up food to eat that someone else has made without having to hunt for it, scale it, skin it, de-bone it or spark the fire to cook it.

And in among all this I have family and friends who love me. David who offered me shelter, food, hot water, coffee, light, friendship. Amy who came by to see if I was ok even though I wasn't home. And Jo who kept tabs on what was happening even when she herself was without.

My prayers are with my dear adopted sister Susan who lost her roof on the house AND the barn. For a ceiling that collapsed. And thank heaven she wasn't hurt.

Sometimes it takes an act of God to remind us to be humble.

I get it. I hope you reading this do, too.

Update

I woke up at 4:30am out of a sound sleep. I think it must have been the powering up of my satellite box attached to the bedroom tv. Whatever it was, at 4:30am this morning my power came back on. Whew! I finally had had enough and kept calling the update line to see what the estimate was for when we would have power. 48 hours is a long time without power. Yes, according to the recording our outage was reported at 2:30am on Friday. That made it 48 hours. The clocks are re-set, the DSL is working (obviously) and I am now going back to bed. Then the rest of the day will be coffee, laundry, movies and knitting. One day is better than none. I am cross posting this to Crafty Rantings. I'm too tired to do anything else. And cold. Back to a warm bed.