Coming February rewards
Kristin
Housewife revenge
A request for Kristy 2
Best laid plans 10
Threesome in the bedroom
Emma’s wetsuit
A noosed girl in the woods
AF’s Moonshine and curses Pt 1
Chanta and Aria
Basement meeting
Doris hangs for Woodcock
And probably a couple others.
December stories/rewards will fall off at the end of January to make room for February rewards.
It happened late Friday afternoon just a couple weeks ago. I had just gotten back from my walk and was settling in for the night when I got a phone call.
The phone seldom rings in my apartment. When it does, it usually means one thing. It means my mother needs my help with something.
Once, she thought she had a water leak and called me over in the evening to have a look. Fortunately, it turned out to be a minor mystery involving clothes draped in the sink and over the edge of the counter, resulting in dripping water onto the floor. That proved to be somewhat amusing.
On this occasion, she told me she had fallen and needed some help getting back up. Could I come over and help her up? She could not get up on her own.
I was immediately stressed over the situation. But she told me not to worry. Her voice over the phone indicated she was fine.
She sounded like she was not too badly injured. She did not want me rushing over. She said she would be ok and for me to take my time.
I was in a state of semi-undress. I’ve been bundling up for my cold, winter walks, and I usually remove a couple layers when I get back to my apartment. But I was dressed and ready to go in about two minutes. That’s how fast you get ready to go when your mother needs you.
I didn’t know what to expect as I drove over. The last time mom fell, she damaged her shoulder. She had to go to the emergency room, and she spent many days at a care center rehabbing her arm and shoulder.
During my drive over, there were a couple of icy sections I had to carefully navigate. And I had to watch my step getting out of the car in her driveway. There was packed snow in places that were becoming moist and slippery from warming temperatures.
I got inside and immediately found my mother. She was lying on the carpeted floor in the living room. She had a pillow for her head, and she had a blanket upon her body for comfort so she could watch TV.
She was not crying or in pain. I looked at her and chuckled. I could not help finding humor in the situation.
She looked back at me with amusement, considering the way her son had just discovered her. She said her muscles were not functioning very well. She would need help getting up into her rocker-recliner. But she would need a few minutes to rest and regain some of her strength before making the attempt.
She looked at me, and her face became serious. “This is NOT where I fell,” she explained. Then she told me she had been outside and had fallen next to her car.
For a moment, I was still seeing the humor in the situation. Then she told me she was out spraying mouse repellent around her vehicle. All her important papers had been nibbled on in the glove box, and she was attempting to keep the rodents out of her vehicle.
She said she fell and went down into a patch of snow, a small drift. She had no idea how it happened. But I could easily imagine, being as how my foot had slipped merely by trying to get out of my car in her driveway.
She said she couldn’t get up. She was unable to get back onto her feet. Something had taken all the strength and energy right out of her after the fall.
She said she couldn’t get the car door closed. But somehow she managed to get a foot up and kick it closed. But she still could not get up onto her feet.
She was outside in weather barely above freezing temperatures. She was bundled warmly, so for the moment she was not risking hypothermia. But the wind was blowing, putting the wind chill down into the 20’s.
Then she told me the thought that went through her head at that moment…
She did not want to die in her driveway.
We had just had lunch in town earlier that day. So I was not scheduled to see her again until the next week. It was quite possible I would not check up on her until I noticed she had not been online for quite some time. How many days would it be before I came over after not hearing from her? Two? Three?
She told me she asked God to give her brain and not brawn. She knew her body simply did not have the energy she needed. She would have to get back into the house by using her brains.
Somehow she rolled herself over until she reached the bottom of her wooden steps to the porch. But she had to rest again. Just doing that had taken a lot out of her.
She did not have the strength to grab onto the railing and pull herself upright. So she used her arms and backed herself up each step onto her butt in sort of a crab-crawl. She told me she would pause a few minutes to catch her breath before doing the next step.
Somehow, she got up onto the porch. Mom said she rolled and crab-crawled as best as possible, whatever it took to get to the front door. But could she even lift herself up enough to reach the doorknob to get it open?
Miraculously, it was already ajar. She’d not entirely closed it when she’d gone outside to spray for mice.
What about the door to the inner porch?
The same. She had also left it ajar.
From there, mom somehow made it through the kitchen into the living room. She found a pillow and blanket within reach. Then she was able to find a way to reach up and get the phone out of its charger to call me.
How many miracles were involved just for her to get inside the house to call me?
The first one occurred where she fell into the snow bank. There was just enough snow to cushion the blow. I saw where her hands had gone in. Any other landing could have fractured her wrists.
The next miracle was in getting up the steps. She went up backwards, lifting herself up just enough to get her butt up to the next step. But she had to pause each time to catch her breath.
What about the outer door being left ajar because of her not having fully closed it? And then there was the inner porch door, also left ajar. What about her ability to roll her body and crawl around, having very little strength? Then she had to be able to work her way into the living room close enough to the lamp stand to somehow elevate herself enough to grab the phone.
Why is this so significant? The very next day, we ended up with roughly two additional inches of snow upon the ground. Would anyone driving by have seen an unusual drift that was actually a snow-covered body? Would they have even seen her where she would have been lying?
You think that’s miraculous? How about another small one, one that would seem insignificant?
When I started my walk, I quickly discovered how slippery the streets were. After several steps, I stood there debating how much further I should go. After all, I did not want to slip and fall. I’d done that once before some time ago and was not eager for round two.
It’s been taking me forty to forty-five minutes to get my walk in on these slick streets. I probably would not have been in my apartment when mom called had I decided to gingerly make the entire route.
I normally do not like cutting my route short. But that evening, I did choose to do that. Thus, I was in my apartment when the phone rang.
You want one more? This miracle was put into place many years ago.
When I told mom I was moving back to my home town, I planned on looking for apartments in Billings or somewhere in the county. Any location would work. But I expected to end up living many miles away. It would be possible I could even end up living a couple towns over.
Mom found a place and looked into it. A casual comment I had made about me being a low income renter made her check out a set of apartments right here in town. As it turned out, I got this location back in May of 2019, virtually sight unseen, over five and a half years ago.
The result? Mom lives about 3 miles away. It’s only a five minute drive. God’s the one who placed me in this particular location so I could get over there to mom’s house to be a help to her.
Do you believe in miracles? More and more, it seems as though my life is full of them. They’re not very flashy, and they’re easy to miss. But they’re noticeable if you just stop to think about them.
I think all of us have miracles that occur in our lives. Sometimes, they seem small and trivial. Our lives are so busy that we don’t recognize them for what they truly are.
It’s the same with blessings. We don’t stop to realize just how blessed we really are. So I’ve been counting my blessings each and every day. And I’ve learned how to better recognize the little miracles that occur around me, even if they are not all that flashy.
The greatest blessing/miracle of all for me? The fact that Jesus died for my sins and rose again.
But perhaps the second greatest blessing/miracle of all is the fact that I got to celebrate my mother’s 82nd birthday just a few days after her fall. So I try to thank God each day for the blessings and miracles he chooses to bestow upon me, even though I don’t deserve them.
Be appreciative of the presence of your friends and family in your lives. I’m very appreciative my mother is still around. But I also want you to know how much I appreciative having all of you as my patrons. That is a big blessing to me, and I thank you all so very much.