Just found this
thread and thought I would add my smile to it.
Sorry this is so long of a post. I swear I didn't set out to write a novella...
About 6 months ago I had gone to pick up a pizza for me and my neighbor, at Pizza Hut. We had called in our order so that I wouldn't have to wait once I got there. Well, as usual, they were running slow. So I paid for our dinner & sat down to wait.
In come this harried mother and 2 toddlers. All dressed nicely but the little ones obviously driving their mom to distraction. I sat and off and on watched them get settled at a table. The waitress went to take their order and I heard the mom say she was waiting for her husband. About 10 minutes later he walked in. He is one of our patrol officers here in Montgomery.
Now, like everyone else, I am not rich: hubby is the only one working (truck driver) and I am waiting for a decision on my disability. But I got this "I need to do something for them" feeling that i have learned not to ignore. When they had placed their order I asked the waitress what they had ordered (talk about a strange look she gave me LoL) and what they had ordered was under $20. So I asked if she had any gift cards and she finally found one that the computer would read and I gave her my last $20 and had her load it on the card. I then wrote across it, Thank you for all you do for our city. You ARE appreciated. I handed it back to her when I was leaving and asked her to give it to the officer from an anonymous resident. I knew he couldn't accept the gift if I had tried to hand it to him (the appearance of graft or bribery , etc). I watched from inside my truck for a few minutes after I left and you should have seen their faces. First his, looking around trying to see who was watching that might have given it to them and then telling his wife what they had been given. I went home with a smile that I couldn't turn off for the whole next day
. There are some officers who are jerks. But if the rest of us "normal" citizens had to walk around for one shift, dealing with the rudeness and ignorance that officers get everyday, not to mention the target they have on their back as soon as they put on the uniform and climb in their cars...we might be grumpy too.
And here is what I have been doing for the past 2 days. An acquaintance that I met through our neighborhood association had cancer and chemo had failed her completely. I had only met her at a meeting one time. This past meeting on Monday night I found out that she had been sent home with Hospice taking care of her and that she and her husband were needing someone to be with them to help answer the phone and protect both of their rest, the little they could get. I went to an "interview" with her the next day and she kept me
. A very wonderful lady. 74 years old and had been married 57 years. The next day I got there at 8a and got them each to eat about a teaspoon of slices of cheese toast and sat with her for the rest of Tuesday. At 6 this (yesterday I guess) morning her husband called me in a panic, telling me that she had been restless all night and she kept complaining that she couldn't breathe, and with his minimal hearing, he couldn't figure out what she needed. I threw on some clothes and rushed over there. Between us we got morphine in her and got her settled down. Her nurse manager came by and checked on her and said that she was doing ok, but seemed to be fading. She left at 930a. At 10:30 I called her sister and told her she needed to gather the family, with some speed, as I didn't think she was going to make it to supper. Everyone local got to the house by 1130a and she passed at 11:46. She went from talking with us and smiling to gone in less than 2 hours. I hadn't known her long but she was one of those people that you can fall in love with as soon as you meet them. I stood there after it was over, tears running down my face. Feeling like I had lost one of my dearest friends. The thing that has tears running down my face is how grateful she was to have someone there who would just sit and talk with her and let her run through her memories and hold her hand or stroke her hair until she fell asleep. One of the last things she was able to say was how thankful she was to meet me and to have me there to help her. I was the one blessed. Blessed to get to know her, just a little, and blessed to have brought her some comfort.
I don't know if that qualifies as a PIF. I just needed to share with someone and you all seem like you won't bite
Sleep well.
Sarah
