random acts of kindness

i will only write about this once.

i know a story.  it is a true story.  it is about a young woman, a loving wife and mother.  it is about her little family.

they need help and have, humbly, humiliatingly, turned to social media.  it is a place called "go fund me."  people use this for things like help for bills to, one i saw wanted $5000 to decorate her yard with rainbows because she is gay and wanted to, well, for want of a better word, annoy her neighbors who had asked her to tone down her public displays of her life choices.

i'm still not sure how to word that as i am not sure what her true goal was but instead of $5000, for the sake of her social cause, she was given over $27,000.

this young woman i am speaking of needs help with bills.  she was let go from her job with one day's notice.  it was because they could not pay her enough for day care for her son, but wanted her to leave him "somewhere" and come in to the office to work rather than work remote as she had be doing for the last almost two years.  {her son is 19 months old.}

unemployment was denied her due to the fact that she did not lie on her application.  she told them she was looking for a job that would pay her enough to cover her helping her husband with the household bills PLUS child care.  they denied her due to the fact that she could not afford child care without a job.

 she is trying to kick start her photography business.  it is what she went to school for.  it is what she is trained for.  it is also where her passion lies.  she loves to take photographs.  she is wonderful with children and animals.  that would be her focus.  

her husband works so hard and makes very good money, but it is not enough.  they want to buy a little house so that they're house payments are less.  that would help greatly.  they are working on it.

but until then, they need help with bills.  not anything horrible like medical bills.  not anything like a social statement of "i am being discriminated against and i want to make a huge statement."

they simply need help like so many others.

for just a little bit.

until things get better for them.

here is the link to their "go fund me" site.

http://www.gofundme.com/x8jg

i hope the universe is kind.

i hope someone out there has the ability to help a little bit, or pass this around.

it is usually the random acts of kindness from strangers that make the difference in someone's life.

it did in the Good Samaritan parable.

thank you for listening.  thank you so very much for any help you can give this gentle little family.

her husband adores her and knows exactly his good fortune in finding her and in being blessed with their son.  she is a lovely person who notices the little details that others miss.  her kindness, empathy, and humility are the first things you would notice about her should you ever get the chance to meet her.

 any help would be gratefully, prayerfully accepted with joy and good thoughts for the giver.

know that they would, and do even at this difficult time for them, help others all they can.

i wish to thank you, any of the readers of my blog, if you could help.

how do i know this little family?

she is my daughter.  that is my grandson.  and i would move Heaven and Earth to help them.

if my Dragon was still alive, he would also move Heaven and Earth.

it has been whispered, "i wish he were here so i could ask his advice."

but he is not and we are winging it.

peace to all who read.  peace and light to all who grieve.

Voldemort & conflict resolution

had to gather my thoughts to write this. but i need to write it out. that's what this place is for. getting it out of my head.

it happened Friday while i was still at work. i had to close that evening. i was nervous throughout the day. tension building like a storm inside my blood. my daughter was supposed to be on the flight to New England at 6. her husband was driving her. their car stalled out. she missed her flight. not only that but now the car is out on the road to the airport in a part of town where it would be stripped clean by dark-30.

so she called Voldemort who said, and i quote, "so get the tow truck to take you to the airport. i'll have another flight waiting for you."

"i can't get to the airport. we got a friend to come get us and he took us back to work."

"okay, here i've got you a flight that will leave at 10 tonight. you'll get into Boston a little after midnight. there's a bus 2 terminals over. get the tram to take you there and get on the last bus. it leaves at 1:30 and will drop you {near where he lives} between 3 and 3:30 AM. call me when you get at the station and i'll come get you."

"are you serious? and what about my car?"

"call a tow truck."

she hung up on him. she cannot afford a tow truck. she cannot afford to fix the car again. he had paid to have it fixed this time and they did not do the work properly. she called me at work sobbing.

in the middle of her conversation with me, she was interrupted by her brother, already in New England, ringing in.

"okay, i've talked to him. this is how it's going to work. call a tow truck and give him dad's number. he's paying to have it towed. tell the tow guy to tow the car back to where you had it fixed. i've already called the service manager and told him that he will fix the car and honor his work. that's it. he is going to honor his work. and you're not coming up here this weekend. the flight he put you on just got delayed until midnight. you won't be getting in until after the bus leaves and i'm not driving to Boston at 2:30 in the morning. it's ridiculous to try and do that. i've made him cool with that."

"oh, my God, how did you do all that? how did you get him to agree to all that?"

"money. his money paid for work that wasn't satisfactory. he needed to be reminded that his money and what people do with it is more important that family. the flight? money again. it would cost him more of his money. he doesn't want to see you and parade you around pretending that he has this great relationship with you more than he wanted to keep his money. now i love you to death and i know you never wanted to come up here so it was easy. money."

"thank you, thank you so much."

"it's okay. i really wanted to see you and hang out with you. you know. a band of brothers or brother and sister thing, but i can take it better than you. i don't care as much and i paid my own way. he can't hold that over me. you, he can manipulate, and he was whacked to try all this and then have you scrape the money together and borrow from mom who has less to try and tow your car and get it re-fixed. that's nuts. he's easy once you remember he really doesn't care as much as he pretends to. it's always gonna be about the money."

and there you have it. conflict resolution. you have to remember what matters most to your opponent and dangle that in front of him/her/them.

the Three Musketeers, or in this case, one of the Musketeers got it done for another Musketeer. "all for one and one for all."