Once again...

Once again, I feel blown away. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine at work, Kendra, expressed how she wanted to do something for Leslie. She has been reading Leslie's blog and then some other cancer survivors' blogs. One of the things she recounted (I'll quote some of the letter Kendra wrote to Leslie), " read about this particular woman's experience and some things that her friends did that encouraged her while she was going through treatment. One thing that struck me was her talking about receiving "gifts of beauty" - things that made her environment more beautiful, more cheerful, while she was feeling plain yuck. So that got the wheels spinning in my mind..." What developed in Kendra's mind was to hold a Southern Living at Home party in Leslie's honor, making Leslie the surprise hostess (Kendra is a SL at Home consultant). "So for the last three weeks," writes Kendra, "your friends and family all over Georgia have been buying Southern Living at Home products in your honor." The result is that Leslie would get the "hostess dollars" as a shopping spree to buy some "gifts of beauty" for her home.

When Kendra first mentioned her idea to me, I was so moved that anyone would want to do something for Leslie like this. But I was even more encouraged when I saw how many people responded to this invitation. My mom took the catalog to her work, and Leslie's friend Sara took it to her school. Kendra also put the word out at our work and even had a party.

I have to say, I expected some people to take part. And I thought it would be nice for Leslie to have a little gift certificate to SL. But I had no idea how great this conspiracy would become. Today I brought home a card, a very big card, that had been signed by a number of people from MTW. In it was a letter (from which I quoted above) that explained what had been done. At the bottom of the letter were instructions to turn over the paper to see the amount she had as a shopping spree. In the beginning, I thought maybe $100 or $150 would be a very nice spree. I am still not believing that Leslie has $1000, yes...that's three zeroes. When Kendra told me, my mouth dropped open. And you should have seen Leslie's reaction when she opened the card and read the letter. Actually, you can see it here in this video:



Now let me explain why this was so meaningful to me. It wasn't the shopping spree, or the amount (that might have been different if Southern Living at Home made plasma TVs). I was so amazed that people would be a part of something, knowing it was to bless my wife. I know people ordered things they probably like. But I bet a lot of people ordered, not because they were dying for a certain product, but because they wanted to encourage Leslie. And more so, it gave a number of people, who don't know Leslie, the opportunity to almost reach out and touch her. It allowed them to be a part of her struggle, and encourage her along in the race. So thanks Kendra, mom, Sara, and all who participated in this to encourage Leslie. It was a real encouragement to me to see others caring for the one I love so much.

One other cool story for the week. A lady, who we don't know, brought Leslie a cooler full of food the other day. She explained that when she heard Leslie's story (I can't even remember how she heard), she wanted to do something for her (even though she didn't know her). She is a gourmet chef, and so she began to cook. Our freezer is now stocked with a number of gourmet items, Italian I believe, on which we may dine as the days progress. She told Leslie how she gets one kind of sausage delivered from this place and salmon from another, and so on. I can't wait to partake!

It was a great day for Leslie, not just with this surprise, but she felt better today than yesterday. It also marks the end of week 2 of radiation. The weekends are a nice break from the radiation too. Tomorrow we head to Macon to attend Leslie's cousin's wedding. The kids will keep my folks...I mean, my folks will keep the kids (you know how that works with grandparents). Leslie and I are using some points to stay in a hotel Saturday night and hopefully get some much needed rest.