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Blessings In Disguise

To anyone who has ever felt used, taken advantage of or discarded. This is for you. May Hope spring to life inside you like a babbling brook, renewing your strength and giving you the courage to move on....

[COLUMN] Recognizing that some disappointments are blessings in disguise
Crystal Dunson | - 01.19.2008

It was the day after Christmas and I was in very low spirits. My two best friends, who married in July, were supposed to take me after-Christmas shopping. Once again, as had become the pattern since they had settled into married life, they had canceled their plans on me.
“I’m tired of being their afterthought,” my mind raged as I tried to find something for lunch, which had also been canceled. To make matters worse, we had no water yet. The water pump had broken the previous Thursday and living without running water was starting to wear on our nerves. My friends knew this and had never even offered to buy me a gallon of water.
“They’ll get theirs,” my mind determined as I sat there steaming.
My mother and I had had a hard year. Nine funerals, including my father’s, was a lot in one year. And now, we had no water, either. The year was ending about as horribly as it began. My friends promised to be there for me but with all these cancellations, it was beginning to feel like just words.
Our neighbor George had offered to let us use his pond for water.
“If nothing else, you could flush the toilet with it,” he said the day before Christmas.
Having 10 people in the house for dinner with no water made it necessary. So, late on Christmas Day, after all the company had left, we walked to the pond and got water to flush the toilet. We walked back to the house with the heavy buckets in our hands.
“How did the pioneer women do it,” I wondered as I set the heavy bucket on the back porch to ease my cramping hands. This was a chore I wouldn’t want on a regular basis. I looked forward to going shopping the next day, to get away from the house and wash my hands in fresh, warm water was sounding like a treat to me.
Here I sat, the day after Christmas with dashed hopes once again.
“Lord, can’t you give me a small break here? Haven’t I been through enough lately,” I fumed inside and punched the computer keys angrily.
“We have to go to the pond and get more water,”_ Mom announced.
“Oh, great,” I stormed in my mind. “This day just keeps getting better. Not!”
I begrudgingly took the bucket and headed behind her to the pond. It was a pleasant day, really, given that it was late December. The sun shone and the temperature was near 40. We got to the neighbor’s pond and Mom dipped the bucket down.
“Tap, tap,” I heard. The water had frozen overnight.
“Just my luck,” Mom muttered.
We trudged back to the house, Mom disappointed and me slightly lifted in spirits. I didn’t really want to carry water that far anyway. I went back to the computer and clicked it on. Then, the phone rang.
“Oh, hello Carla! Merry Christmas!” I heard Mom say into the phone.
“Merry indeed!” I grunted as I typed, tuning out the conversation. I’d had just about enough Christmas cheer for one day.
“Well, I don’t know. Let me go ask her,” I heard Mom say. Then, I heard footsteps coming down the hall.
“Now, what did she want,” I wondered. I kept typing away at the keyboard.
“Carla wants to know if we can come and see her today,” Mom announced.
I groaned inwardly. “Nothing is a pick-me-up like a nursing home,” I thought sardonically.
“Today?” I asked incredulously.
“Yes, today,” Mom replied, waiting for my answer.
I groaned.
“I guess. Maybe we can stop by Wal-mart on the way home?” I asked, hopefully.
“I thought maybe we would,”Mom replied warmly. Her eyes told me she understood my disappointment.
I closed up the computer and went to grab my coat. It was colder when we got in the car. I shivered in the seat. Mom turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the driveway. Before long, we were on the interstate. The traffic was light so we were at the nursing home in no time.
I got out of the car and followed Mom into the building. Old ghosts jumped out at me as I entered. It was always hard coming here, as this was the last nursing home Dad was in before his passing and the last place I truly saw him alive. That was one of the main reasons I didn’t come often.
We found Carla in her room and sat down to visit. She was very glad to see us and I was glad to see her. The room was very warm so we only stayed an hour or so. Then, we got up to leave. Mom wanted to get back to Lima before dark.
The traffic was a little heavier as we rode back down the interstate but not too heavy for Mom to handle. Before long, we were in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. I got out of the car on a mission to find after-Christmas bargains.
After we finished our shopping, we got in line. As we were checking out, a woman came up to me. “Aren’t you my neighbors up the road?”_ she inquired, warmly.
“Yes,”_Mom and I chimed in unison.
“Oh, thanks so much for that shower seat you gave me. I think of you every time I use it for Mom.”_
“No problem,”_Mom replied sweetly.
She gave us an update on her elderly mother who had Alzheimer’s. She was still taking care of her at home. A tear formed in my eyes as I thought about all of the years we took care of Dad before he had to go in a nursing home. Mom encouraged her to keep her mother home as long as possible. Given what we went through with Dad, I had to agree.
Out of the blue, Mom asked, “Don’t know any good plumbers, do you?”_
The woman pondered. “The only one I can think of is Waldron.”
Mom and I looked at each other.
“Gordon?”_I asked. Gordon lived on the next road and came to our garage sale every time we had one. I had never thought to ask him about plumbing.
The lady shook her head. “No, not him, his son.”_
“Preston,”_I said.
“That’s it,”_she replied quickly, relieved that I remembered the name.
Oh, thank you,”_Mom replied. We finished talking and headed home where Mom instructed me that I had a phone call to make.
I called Gordon and he called his son. His son called back and came out. Then, he called a friend of his and his friend came out and toyed with the not-working pump. Finally, after a week, we got water.
“This was divine intervention,” Mom instructed me. “You weren’t supposed to be with your friends. You were supposed to be with me so that we could find a plumber. If you had been with your friends, she might not have recognized you.”
Her words ruminated over and over again in my brain. She was probably right. The lady recognized my mother as the nice neighbor who gave her an old shower chair. Had I been with friends like planned, she indeed, may not have recognized me.
It’s funny how God can take a negative and make it a positive. It’s funny how I can be having the worst day and that’s when a good friend will call or I’ll get a really nice e-mail in my inbox. A rainbow is just behind the rain. I guess that’s why they’re called blessings in disguise.

Posted by crydun2004 on 2008-01-20 18:44:40 | Rating: