I have written about my sister quite a few times in my blogs
over the past year. I think we have
established that she is the ‘favorite
daughter’, she is the cream to my coffee grounds, and she has a heart of
gold and is generous beyond words. It is
the last point that I want to focus on in my blog today.
Last Saturday we spent the day running errands preparing for
Relay for Life and Mother’s Day. She had already spent the morning at Mom’s
doing yard work and washing her car, but we are power shoppers so she
powered through an afternoon/evening of checking things off our “To Do List”.
Sometimes things can still be pretty raw for us and Saturday
was one of those days for me. I have my “only
child” graduating, and for some reason Saturday, it hit me that in the long
run, I will have left him an orphan.
No
siblings.
Was it too late to have another kid? Yes. Yes it is.
Moving on... Mother’s
Day. We were preparing to celebrate our
incredible Mom and shopping for some last minute goodies. But we knew that it would
also be an occasion which reminded us that a big piece of our heart isn’t around
to share in the celebration. We bought Mom tickets to a Ranger game. Cool.
But the game happens to fall on Father’s Day. It was a coincidence. That date was the only weekend day that we
would all be available to go. Maybe it was an angel’s way of looking out
for us and making sure we didn’t sit around the house soaking ourselves in
tears.
And then there is Relay for Life. We made the decision to honor our commitment
to our team, but let me tell you something… as excited as I pretend to be on
the outside, this is going to be hard.
Julie has done an amazing job planning our campsite and it will look
great. We have some great people who are going to be there to support us and to walk
for their own loved-ones. In fact, one of my dearest friends had to
cancel because she had a family member recently diagnosed and wants to spend as
much time with her family as possible. Trust me. WE understand. And every time I thought about her Saturday,
as we were running errands, my heart broke into a million pieces and I had to choke back the tears. This is a family that I LOVE. And those tears bring me to Julie…
After our errands were finished, we were starving. Like, I was getting shaky, kind of starving. Yet we could not decide where to eat.
We do that a lot.
Where do you want to eat? I don’t care, where do you want? It doesn’t
matter to me. On and on. And on and on. We finally agreed on a hamburger.
But where? We were
over by Ridgmar, which led to Camp Bowie, which meant, hey, what about
Risky’s? Juju called her hubby to see if
he would want to meet us there. He took
a pass. Juju decided Braum’s. Until we drove by the Risky’s sign and saw “All you can eat Ribs $7.99”. But I couldn’t get over in the turn lane fast
enough. And since I was distracted by
the “All you can eat” sign, I missed my turn to Braum’s. Here was our chance. I had to make a U-turn anyway… Risky’s? Nope. We decided to stick wtih Braum’s. (things happen for a reason, don’t they?)
We were only in our booth for about 2 minutes before Juju
noticed him. An older gentlemen sitting in a back
booth. Kind of not well-kempt. She asked
me to take a look to see if he was alone.
He was. I could see a black bag
sitting across from him and a large cup on the table that was not from
Braum’s. (You know where this is going right?) We both kept an eye on him. I had a more direct view and kept Juju posted
on what was happening. He seemed to have a phone. He seemed to be talking to
himself. And he most definitely did NOT have food on his table.
There is no
possible way to calculate what Juju has given away to the downtrodden in her lifetime. Her generosity knows no bounds.
After we are close to
being finished with our burgers, I know what is coming. Out
comes the money. It sits there on
the table for a few moments while we finish eating. And in the mean time, an
older couple came in with what appeared to be two adult children with special
needs, one wearing a helmet. I couldn’t
stop what was about to happen. I start
sobbing uncontrollably. It’s like a
half-sob/half-laugh, but there is nothing funny. I just couldn’t quit.
Every
emotion rolled over me at once; I missed my Dad, I am leaving Hunter an orphan
when I am gone. Please let him marry a
wonderful girl with a big, close family.
Why, oh WHY is my dear friend going through what we just spent the last
year enduring? Dear God, please spare
her sweet family. Make a miracle.
The world had dealt
too much on my emotional plate at that moment.
Juju, my hero, steps up. She grabs the money, tells me to go
to the car and she’ll meet me there. I
gather up the trash, head to refill my cup and I can hear the man talking to
Juju. I can’t hear what she is saying,
but he is responding. I look up to see
her headed around the corner and we both head to the door.
As I regain my composure in the car, she relays the incident
to me. She approached the man and told
him that we were missing our Dad and wanted to know if we could treat him to
dinner. He answered “yes” and then told
her that the anniversary of his Dad’s passing was last Wednesday. He proceeded to point at her cross necklace
and tells her that was her good luck charm.
He was gracious.
Juju has a gift. She even expressed that she believes that
someday she will work with the less fortunate; maybe not as a job, but as a
volunteer. I believe it. She
does have a gift.
She has a gift of
knowing and a gift of words to be able to approach people and not have them
feel threatened or offended. She has the
gift of charity – as defined by Merriam Webster "generosity and helpfulness, especially toward the needy or suffering; also, aid given to those in need."
She NEVER seeks attention. She does NOT like any attention drawn to her. In fact, I may be taken off the Christmas card list for writing this post. I'll take my chances. I want the world to be inspired by her the way I am...
