10 Nicest Things

This week's Ten on Tuesday is all about nice things people have done for you. It was a little hard for me because my memory isn't all that great. I know I'm going to leave out something significant and for that, I apologize beforehand. I have been blessed with a nice hubby & nice parents. There is no way I could recount all they have done for me. In no particular order, here are 10 nice things done for me.

1. When Bear played football, I got a parking ticket during one of the practices. I was DEVASTATED. Money wise, it was the wrong time for it to happen. Worst of all, I had paralleled parked in that spot and I was so pleased with myself. It was obvious how upset I was and the other parents were so kind to me. At the next practice, I was given an envelope. Inside the envelope was money to pay for the ticket. Several of the moms had chipped in. I didn't want to accept it, but I was told it was like a 'pay it forward' type thing.




2. Hubby knew how much I adored John Grisham books. When The Client was being released, hubby got wind that Mr. Grisham would be at a local bookstore he supported signing autographs. He (hubby, not J.G.) picked me up from work and surprised me by taking me to the bookstore. We got there around 5 p.m. and just made it before the cut-off time. We waited and waited and waited. Finally at 11p.m. we were told that he wouldn't be personalizing anymore, just his name and only one autograph per person. I could understand that but didn't find it fair for us poor people at the end of the line. By the way, by this time, I was the last person. At midnight, we finally made it to Mr. Grisham. Somehow, and this part is fuzzy, I said something about it being a birthday present for me. He looked up from the book he was signing (not mine) and asked if it was my birthday. When I answered 'yes', he told me that I was very sweet to spend my day waiting to see him. And he signed my book "Happy Birthday, D... John Grisham." I was so excited and thought him the nicest man ever. No camera though. Darn.




3. When I was 16 years old, we moved away from my Arkansas hometown to right outside of Boston, Massachusetts. It was devastating as you can imagine. My birthday fell around the time of my Arkansas high school's spring break. Unbeknownst to me, my mom arranged to fly my best friend up for the week to visit me. I was so happy to see her. And, to make it even more special, my mom allowed her, Coastie Brother, and me to take the train into Boston ALL BY OURSELVES. I still can't believe she did that. And, thank goodness Coastie Bro was with us as he's the one who figured out the subway map. There are many nice things I could say about this best friend. She was there for me and my crazy dysfunctional family. And she didn't run away.




4. Early in our marriage, Hubby's car (our only car) needed some major repairs, to the point that it just wasn't running. We couldn't afford to get it fixed so my dad let us borrow his car so we could save money to fix our car. He used one of my grandparent's old cars. Not quite sure why we didn't borrow THAT car, hmmm....Anyway, at least we had a car to drive.




5. Between Lamb & Bear there was another pregnancy. One that only lasted a few weeks. When I started losing the baby, my dr. was away on vacation. The on call dr. finally scheduled an ultrasound for a Thursday. That Wednesday night, my dr. called me and asked that I wait until he got back into town so that he could do the ultrasound. He even told me to come in before office hours. I knew then that he really thought it would be bad news and he wanted to protect me. Sure enough, it was bad news. I always appreciated the caring he showed me. Sadly, the person who I thought was my best friend, showed up right as I was leaving the office with her newborn twins. Her words? Well, at least you have Lamb. Now, I don't look back on that as the worst thing that ever happened to me. We were meant to have Bear in our lives and he wouldn't be if my prayers had been answered that time.




6. While I was newly pregnant with Bear, my mom & I were in a car accident. Nothing serious, no one was hurt, but the man who hit us was very belligerent. A beer truck in front of us had seen it happen. He ended up coming back to us and staying until the cops/ambulance showed up. We never got his name but we sure did appreciate his Good Samaritan attitude.




7. Bubba's Sis. There isn't just one thing I can name. Probably the nicest thing she's done is just be my friend. She loves me, she loves my family. She understands me, she believes in me, she supports me. Every day there is a nice thing I could tell you about her. I will tell you about the latest. Knowing that I hate to drive and that the playhouse is far from me, she volunteered to drive Lamb for me. It IS a big deal. I thank God for bringing her into my life.




8. My first stepmom strongly disliked me. STRONGLY. However, there are 3 things that I'll always be thankful to her for. This is my favorite (besides introducing us). Hubby & I dated before cell phones were common place. Although, I don't think that would have mattered for this story. I worked in the church nursery at our church. Usually, Big D would go with me to hang out. This particular Sunday, he told me to just give him a call when I got home. I'm not sure where my dad was but he wasn't with us. I wanted D to be there when church got out so I wouldn't have to spend too much time with the stepmother. He wasn't. When we got home, I immediately called. No answer. I called again. No answer. By late afternoon, I was in near panic. My stepmother could see that so she called work (they worked together). No one had seen him. I had visions of him on the side of the road in a car accident, dead. Seeing that I was getting myself worked up, my stepmother offered to drive me to D's apartment and to look on the sides of the road. When we pulled into his parking lot, I saw the car. Whew. I banged on the door and when he answered, I was just burst into tears. Seems he fell asleep and wondered why I never called him. Phone fell off the hook. Seeing that all was well, my stepmother reverted back to herself. "I'm going home now. Bring all of us some pizza back with you."




9. Coastie Brother did an amazing thing for me. I'm not comfortable writing about it on here. Let's just say it was the 1st of many times that he took my side and defended me. And, to be defended was always important to me.




10. Bear's 3rd grade teacher, who is also my dear friend, knows the struggles I have with one of his friends and mom. To save me grief, she took it upon herself to take measures (so I wouldn't have to) to ensure that next year will be different. That's not the only nice thing she's done for me by any means. I also have another close friend who, while I don't talk to daily, I know she'd do whatever she could for me and my family. And she lets me borrow her books! These ladies make my heart sing.