Friday the 13th vrs. The Neighbours

I have never been one to believe in Friday the 13th and my view almost changed this friday as it seemed that everything that could go wrong went wrong. It started with a horrible nights sleep meaning no sleep at all and I awoke in the depths of despair. Christopher too had received little to no sleep and so we were all grumpy as a family. The only thing in my favour was that I did not need to get Elizabeth on the bus. So Christopher has an ear infection and has to go to the doctors, I'm crying from lack of sleep and Gil is on his way out for the whole day.

But being the husband he is, he arranges for me to have the morning to myself as he takes Chris to the doctor's and I get an hour of sleep. Once I finally am able to drag myself downstairs I notice a stange man in an orange and yellow vest prowling about our property. Never a good sign

So I go outside to check into it but he is gone as quick as a flash and all that is left is a note on the door that says the power has been shut off. Grrr. . . Arghh. So what is a wife to do but to phone Gil and begin to lament into the phone. "What are we going to do, we don't even have money right now for groceries and then there are my two girls parties in the next two week, I have no presents for them let alone setting up a party. What are we going to do? etc. etc. We; meaning hysterical wifes are good at taking a situation and running wildly away with it.

So hubby calls back and lets me know he'll be leaving the doctors shortly and we will talk about it when he gets home. Meanwhile Anne has hit her peak and is now phoning the church and crying to her pastor friend. Pastor's are amazingly calm people who are often generous beyond compare. He says he'll manage to get the arrears paid off so that the power can be turned on again. Wow! I cannot express how much that was needed and appreciated. Then he asked for a grocery list.

I felt so humbeled and I didn't want to say what we needed so I relunctantly told him what we needed but only the very very essentials of what we needed. Sure enough later he arrived with some bags of groceries, again I felt humbeled as he carried them into our kitchen, while my two young girls watched.

Jessica arrived home and wanted to know what was going on with the lights and also where the groceries came from since Dad was out with the car. Not being a parent that ever wants to lie to her child I tried to tell her in very "couched terms"tht things were not where we wanted them financially, and they had turned off the lights and the pastor had discovered that we had no food so he had brought some over.

She took the news in stride as children often do but she however felt very bored. A house with no T.V. or computer is a house with nothing to do. So she decided to go to a friend's house.

I meanwhile loaded up the fridge and tried my best to keep an eye on the temperature so that it didn't drop too much. Gil had arrived home too and then left to go to the bank to try to figure out what the problem was. Then about an hour later a knock at the door and it was Mrs. Lynde from down the street with a cart full groceries. It seems my daugher with the big mouth had told her the situation and she felt compelled to come and share. Again I was humbeled so very deeply by the generosity of these people that I didn't even know who were giving of themselves. I mean our daughters know each other but we have not ever talked and now here she was giving me food.

At supper time as we were just trying to ascertain where Jessica was. she arrived at the door with a large party pizza and some fresh baked cookies from another neighbour who had heard our plight and wanted to help as well. Once again I felt humbeled and deeply gratified. So I have discovered that my daughter has good friends and I have great neighbours.

So in this world of cruelty and mostly selfishness in a little neighbourhood in Aurora there is a community of people who care and are giving and have brought one woman to realize why that saying about it taking a village is so true.

Neighbours win over Friday the 13th every time. They have filled our home with thanksgiving praise and a bare fridge that is now over-flowing.

THANK-YOU