When we listen…

There are occurrences in life that challenge a person to the degree that they learn something about themselves and/or life.  And maybe what they learn changes them, or at least how they behave for the rest of their life.  This is not to say those challenges are negative or “bad” , but just that they make you stop and think in a different way.  You know — a light bulb moment.

Jamie got a bladder infection and it caused her creataine to rise.

Dialysis was looming on the horizon.   We have been here before; she was on dialysis for four years before she got her transplant.  Nonetheless she did not want to go back on dialysis nor did she want this gifted kidney to fail.  (What it is like for her to have someone else’s organ in her body is a blog for another time.)

Jamie was scared.  She wrote on her facebook page asking for people to pray for her.  This has been a long time coming, we are not a religious family…we are spiritual though (I think).   I have always told her not to underestimate the power of other people’s prayers…longevity teaches you a few things in this life…. People prayed.                 

She headed to the hospital with her fiancé, Andy, to have her blood work done again.

As she was in the waiting room, a woman walked over to her and took her hand.  Jamie was a little taken aback.  The woman said “I sensed you as soon as you walked into the room”.  She told Jamie, “I never do this but I just feel so compelled to tell you that it is going to be OK and your test today will show great improvement and your knee surgery will go very well also.  I hope you are ok with this.  I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but please, may we pray together.  Jamie hesitantly said “Sure.”  The woman held tightly onto her hands and they prayed together.  After which the woman told Jamie about her ill mother and her fighting spirit.  They visited a bit more and the woman left.

Jamie went in and gave her blood, as she has done for 28 years.  She and Andy waited.  Not long afterward, the nurse returned with the news…down to 3.7 from 6.7, enough to keep her off THE MACHINE. Possibly it will buy her the time she needs to find a solution to the infection problem.  It will allow her the time to have the knee corrected, which will help… simply because she will be more physically active.  Needless to say she was relieved and filled with joy.

She told me all she could think about was how she felt when the woman was holding her hand…the strange sense of calm…a quiet happiness inside…a restful new confidence.

To me the woman represented all the people who were praying for her and I know people prayed.

As Jamie and Andy were leaving they ran into the woman who was pushing her mother in a wheel chair down the hallway.  Jamie told the woman the good news and they held each other and cried.  They exchanged numbers and parted.

I was waiting for Jamie at her apartment when she called to tell me the entire story.  I was also elated.  It wasn’t long before she was home and we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate.

On the way to the restaurant, I conveyed to Jamie how the woman had also impacted me. I told her that any time I get a sensation to express a feeling to someone, be they stranger or friend, I was always going to do it.  Jamie smiled.

At dinner I interviewed Jamie for a future blog, but mostly just for fun.  I could see and feel that something was different about Jamie.  I had not seen this peaceful calm on her in a long time.

 As we were eating a young girl about 7 or 8 was sitting with her family at the table across from us.  She had a beautiful smile and a sweet energy…my eyes were drawn to her over and over again.  I had my notebook with me so I told Jamie I wanted to draw this little girl a coloring page.  Jamie smiled and rolled her eyes at me.  I drew a rainbow (as a teacher I knew girls love rainbows) and some flowers at the bottom and fluffy clouds hanging in the sky. Then I wrote across the top…

Dear young Lady,

You are beautiful.  Don’t ever let anything stop you from following your dreams.

Follow your Rainbow!

I really didn’t think much of it.  I love children.  I have worked with them in one capasity or another for twenty plus years, so to draw a child a coloring page is not out of the ordinary for me.  But this day seemed to be filled with angels.

When Jamie and I got up to pay the bill, I asked, “should I give it to her, I don’t want to disturb them while they’re eating dinner.”  Jamie said, “You have to follow your heart mom, you know that.”  So I walked over and gave the drawing to the little girl.  I told her I thought she was beautiful and I just wanted to make a coloring page for her.

As I was handing the cashier the money for the check someone tapped on my shoulder.  I turned around and saw the tearful face of the little girls mother.  She said, “My daughter wants to give you a hug.”  So I turned to the little girl and gave her a great big hug.  The little girl wispered “Thank you” ever so quietly in my ear.  Then she ran as fast as she could back to her dad and brother at their table.  But her mother did not, she stood there  looking at me with great big sad eyes and she said,  “I asked my husband when I read what you wrote on the coloring page you made for my daughter, how did she know?  How did she know that this is just what Shannon needed today?”  Then she told me her daughter just got diagnosed with a speech impediment today and that it would be probably years of therapy to correct, if it can be corrected at all.  She told me how sad her daughter was and how the kids at school tease her.  She told me how her daughter said after I read your note to her that she was going to do it and she was never going to let any one stop her from following her dreams.  The mother said thank you over and over again.  But I told her I did nothing…I said ask the angel who prayed with my daughter today when she needed it… maybe she knows who did all this today.  Nonetheless, I hugged her, wished her well and told her not to worry, Shannon is in good hands.

When I turned to leave I saw Jamie had been watching the incounter…She smiled through her tears.  I kissed her on the forhead and I said from this day forward I will always do a thing when my heart tells me so and I won’t ever let anything stop me…thanks to your angel. Jamie smiled sweetly…”me to”.

This was, as Jamie would say…True Story!