my friends (a married couple) are flood victims too. our stories are quite different yet so much the same that we are able to commiserate and offer small and clumsy comforts to each other. today they gave me a wonderful gift: they spent a lot of time shopping and hundreds of dollars on groceries and staples for me.
pre-flood i would have been embarrassed, perhaps mortified, to accept this kind of help, let alone share it with any and everyone reading this, but times change and i have changed. last may, after losing everything, i stood in a church gym down the street with an empty box and a broken heart and realized that i didn't own a toothbrush, a fork, toilet paper, sheets, food. i had nothing. i was grateful to accept those things that others had so generously and lovingly given. it changed me in a way i can't put into words.
my kitchen cabinet this morning with a box of cereal, peanut butter and crackers and one box of organic macaroni and cheese...
i know now that i will be thankful for aluminum foil and toothpaste and light bulbs in ways that i never could have before. i take nothing for granted because i know what it feels like to be without. my friends loaded me up with all kinds of great things and i was thrilled as i opened each sack to see all that they had done for me (almost like a kid on Christmas morning, if you will allow me the use of that phrase since you know my feelings about Christmas!) they got me treats too, things i don't buy for myself: nutella, diet coke, pepperidge farm cookies (yum!)
the same cabinet now...
see the nutella?!!!! i am blessed.
grace and peace
Awesome post Amy. Any of us could be where you are. All it takes is an illness... or a once in 100 years flood. Love you, sweetie.
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