kindness

You must, must, must check out this entry on hope before you read any further or you'll miss the significance of today's post.

Andrew, Harriet and I had a wonderful weekend at the cabin. Old friends, good food and better weather than expected. Harriet had a great time playing on a big inflatable jump house our friends brought along. She loved it and Andrew is now convinced we need to buy one for her - a bigger one with three slides and a pool...for only $540.

He's serious.

But after seeing these smiles, can you blame him?

When we returned from the lake on Sunday, we opened our mailbox for the first time in a week. There was so much stuff squished in there, I could hardly pry it all out. Junk mail, magazines, bills...and a mystery package. We tore it open to find this...

I lost it. Just sobbed and sobbed. Andrew saw how touched I was by this sweet gift and he started to cry too. What made this even better was the fact that these prescriptions for hope were sent by an actual pharmacist - a childhood friend of Andrew's whom we see every other year, if that. She included a heartfelt note, handwritten on an official pharmacist pad:

I got a little bit behind reading your blog. I just wanted you to know that you inspire and give so many people hope! So many people are in your corner praying for all of your dreams to come true. Hang in there. You are a strong and beautiful woman and no doubt a great mother to Harriet and all of your future babies and those already in heaven. I know we don't know each other very well, but I think of you often and really hope you and Andy get everything that you could ever want. Hopefully this will bring a smile to your life.

Such kindness.

And I'll tell you something...the "pills" worked. But they didn't just restore my hope. They also provided inspiration and a new kind of joy - the joy that can only come as a result of the generous spirit and unmatched creativity of a woman I barely know.

A day and a half later, I'm still aloft on her kindness. I think we all are.

And by the way, our pharmacist friend chose Harriet's birthdate as the prescription number.

She couldn't have been more right on. No other day in my life brought me as much hope as the day my precious daughter was born.

But I have to say...today was a close second.