Dad and Rosie

Many of us in the Southeast have had showers for many days, showers of a different kind than blessings. Mike and I received showers of blessings last week when we visited with Dad and Rosie in Hendersonville, NC.

Dad and Rosie moved from Sandy Springs, Florida to Hendersonville last April, a move necessitated by their need to be close to family who can help care for them. The family knew it would not be an easy move. They loved Florida and their home there. But when it became obvious that Rosie could no longer care for Dad alone in his aging years, we asked her where she wanted to move. Her choice was to move to Hendersonville near one of her sons, David. A suitable independent living facility, Brookdale, was located there, five minutes from David. Other than David, Mike and I are the closest children to them geographically. Our drive from Raleigh to Hendersonville is approximately four hours. We decided to travel through there last week on the way to a meeting in Athens, Ga.

We arrived in Hendersonville late afternoon on Tuesday and left the next morning after breakfast. It was a short visit, but a wonderful one. Dad and Rosie were well, just still not very happy about their move from Florida. We heard that in several ways, not unexpectedly. We understand, for this is indeed a major change for them. We listened and reminded them of the need for the move, and their agreement with it. We did not expect them to agree, and they didn’t. We have heard from others who have had similar situations with their loved ones that this is normal and will last for at least a year. Brookdale is a good facility, and they are where they need to be.

In addition to catching up on their news, our short visit consisted of taking them out to dinner at their choice of restaurant and going to breakfast with them the morning we left. David joined us for dinner at O’Charley’s. The next morning, we met them for breakfast at their favorite place, Fireside Restaurant and Pancake Inn. If you are in the Hendersonville area, do yourself a favor and have breakfast or lunch at Fireside. You will be so glad that you did.

Dad and Rosie are regulars at Fireside. Their favorite server, Kaylyn, brought them their choice of beverage when they entered, and treated them so well throughout. She made sure Dad’s bacon was crispy and his coffee cup was refilled with hot coffee just when he needed it. She cared for all of us equally well. As is typical before a meal with Dad and Rosie, we held hands and bowed our heads and said a blessing before we ate.

What a great idea!

When we had finished, Dad insisted on paying for breakfast and asked Kaylyn for the check. Handwritten across the check were the words, “Jesus loves that you pray, Enjoy Breakfast.” Dad took his money out to pay when Kaylyn came back to the table. I asked her if she was the one who wrote that sweet message on the check.  She said, “no,” and explained that another customer wrote the message and paid for our meals! She said the customer made her promise to not present the check to us until she was gone. We were overwhelmed with this blessing, the kindness of a stranger.  Kaylyn told us that she did not know the customer.

The sweet note left by the woman who paid our bill.

This was indeed a “pay it forward” moment. While I have heard and read of others receiving such a gift from a stranger, I have never before had the experience. My immediate thought was “Showers of Blessing,” and the desire to treat someone else in a similar manner. I have not done so yet, but I will.

Dad and Rosie and Mike and me

I had two more showers of blessings yesterday. The first was finding a very old newspaper clipping about a freelance writer. I found the newspaper clipping when cleaning out my desk, a task long overdue. I googled him and easily found him. Since I am interested in doing some freelance writing, I sent him an email to make a connection, and he invited me to join his freelance writing group, (which is 182 people strong!) that meets once a month five minutes from my home! I decided to do so and believe this connection will be a great asset to me.

The other shower of blessing was finding seventy dollars that I did not know that I had! This happened when I was cleaning out a briefcase I haven’t used for several months. Since I am on a strict budget (again!) this “find” was indeed a blessing.

There are Showers of Blessing all around us. We just sometimes have to do things differently, or we have to be different, for them to appear. Perhaps the messages in my book, Changing Me From The Inside Out: My Hurricane Irma Experience on St. Maarten and Other Life Changing Events is bringing showers of blessings I need.