two unique experiences

I had two experiences this week that have taught me a couple things.

1. Life is precious and it can end at any moment, or be dramatically changed in a moment.

2. I have been reminded that I am so lucky to have Dallin and that without him, I would be so lost.

3. That I have been blessed with good friends, who uplift and teach me and I am so grateful.

Experience #1. I was playing on facebook for a minute the other night and saw a posting from a friend clear back from our trailer court days. I immediately had this feeling to say hi to her on facebook. So I did. I am not sure why, I tend to normally ignore those feelings. Let's be honest, I do. The next day she responds and asks if I could call her and she e-mailed Dallin her phone number. I got the phone number and thought to myself, I'll call her sometime this week. A few minutes later the feeling to just call her was nagging at me so I decided to pick up the phone. When I got the voice mail I was pretty relieved to be honest. I needed to get a ton of housework done and the kids were napping and this was my only free time for the day. A few minutes later she called me back. We were just catching up but something in her voice was a little off and again a feeling came over me and I felt I needed to ask her a specific question. Again I am not sure why I did, because I do tend to ignore these feelings plus it was a very blunt type of question and I NEVER like to pry. Only with my sisters. So I asked the question and then she told me that she was dying. She has been having a lot of strokes and they are not sure why. They have done numerous tests. They don't know why this keeps happening and they can't get it to stop. Her body is starting to shut down and her heart is very weak now. Another stroke could just mean the end. She has 3 beautiful girls. She also would be leaving behind a husband. She told me a few things that she had wanted to say to me. Many too personal to share here. She had, had me on her mind and said the sweetest things about my family and how much we had meant to them. After talking with her on the phone all that day, I went through old memories of being with her and her family. We had so many wonderful times and they were there for us during some trying times. She has always been kind to everyone and made sure and told you good things about you whenever she was with you. She truly is always uplifting and cares more for others than herself. I just kept thinking that day what the Lord wanted me to gain from talking to her. Why did he want me to call? I know it was much more than to say goodbye. I think more than anything it was to be at peace with myself and my trials. Life has very little to do with today and so much more with eternity. She confided in me that she had no original intentions of telling me about her health etc... But when I asked her my question she knew that I needed to know. I am so grateful that for once in my life I listened and acted.

Experience #2. The second experience is a little further away from me. But a friend sent me a link to a blog of a friend back in Rigby. She was a woman who showed me a lot of kindness, and befriended me at a time when outside of Dallin I had no one around me. I remember one specific time when I was somewhere and it was soon after Porter was diagnosed. I was in a room full of women and felt a million miles away from them all. They were talking about things in their lives that were foreign to me and felt petty. To be honest I was sitting there feeling so hurt and alone and felt that no one in that room cared or even noticed me. After the meeting was done this woman came and sat by me. She got talking to me and was so friendly. She made me feel like at least for a moment that I had a friend. After that we became friends and I always enjoyed talking with her. So I checked out her blog. I came to find out that her husband was badly injured in a accident this summer. He literally risked his life to save his daughter and just about lost his. His daughter walked a way with a few broken bones and he was left with most the bones in his body broken, a leg that had to be amputated, and severe brain trauma. It has been two months and for as good as he is doing now, he is severely injured still and has many effects from the brain trauma and probably will never be the same. She has kept almost a daily account on her blog of his progress and her faith was apparent in every post. The last post I read shared this. He has only been home from the hospital now just a couple of days. She is exhausted and he can not yet do anything on his own. It was late and she was frustrated and tired and yelling at the kids. He called her in his room. His speech is still very difficult but with tears in his eyes he said "be good". He said "I lost a leg, almost my life, be good". Meaning we are so blessed, try not to sweat the little stuff. This is a good lesson for me. I have spent a summer exhausted and frustrated with the kids. I need to remember to "be good".

All this week I kept thinking I should say something on here and you think I would have learned but I kept pushing it off. This morning the feeling came again and I was in the thick of cleaning a trashed house and children needing all kinds of things, but I thought to myself "have I really learned anything if I don't start acting when I feel too?" I know this was for me so I can remember and be reminded of these wonderful women and their strength but I hope maybe it is for some of you as well. Have a good week and "be good".