A bright moment during a dreary winter

It has been a long, cold, snowy, and hard winter. Today, it is raining. My mom says, "Be thankful, you don't need to shovel rain." And I am thankful. The grass is beginning to turn green again, and the spring flowers are on their way, sprouting upwards to greet the newly arrived red-breasted Robins.

The winter started before Thanksgiving - the hard times started a few weeks before that when my dad got sick once more. He spent last Thanksgiving in the hospital. At Christmas time, he was back in the hospital for a few weeks. He ended up getting a pacemaker implanted. But his health didn't improve much. By mid-February, he was back in the hospital with pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) threatening to drown him. He was miserable and cranky.

Each week during that period, it seemed we got more snow - and I shoveled and shoveled - mine, the office, and my parents. Especially my parents so that emergency workers could get in to my dad if need be. We got 10 times our average amount of snow this winter (so far). It wore us out.

It was extremely cold too - single digits for days and days - and those days, the wind seemed to always be howling. A winter ice storm knocked out my power for several days - no power meant no heat. My folks have a heat pump, but single digit temperatures meant back up heat from an oil burner. They ran out of oil a couple times - and it was cold waiting for the oil delivery truck to come the next day.

Throughout this hard winter, the folks at my parent's Church have been a rock of support for them and for me. They called every week just to check up on how my dad, my mom and myself were doing. And they prayed. They prayed for my dad to regain his health.

This past Sunday, my parents went to their Church. They were stunned when they were given a beautiful, hand made prayer quilt.

The lady that made it, started it back in February, when far from home, I took my dad to a strange hospital and needed someone (anyone) to just talk to my mom and help her remain calm. I found a phone number on my mom's cellphone "Prayer Chain" and dialed it. One of the members of their church answered, and I told them what was happening.

The next day, my dad was much improved. They drained the fluid in his lungs (nearly 2 gallons were to be removed by the end of his crisis) - and he slept comfortably for the first time in many weeks. His regular doctors had misdiagnosed him, saying his breathing trouble was due to a "common cold". Fortunately, the strange doctor so far from home, figured it out. My dad has been much improved, and as my mom puts it, "like his old self once more!"

My mom brought the prayer quilt to me at work. We admired it, and more so, we admired the thoughtfulness of the person that made it.

Do to others as you would have them do to you. There is so much power in it.