Yesterday was a great day. We had a great nurse, Mommy was able to help change the dressing on Lily's PICC (short for peripherally inserted central catheter, basically a big deal IV), and lots of hospital friends came by to comment on how well she is doing and how big she is getting. Two very nice ladies from the Redlands 5th Ward (the local congregation of our LDS church) brought me food. Carissa brought the most delicious tuna melt sandwich I've ever had and a great selection of fruits. Shirley, who just received the news that her daughter can in fact hear, brought some great snacks to keep the munchies at bay while I'm at bedside.
After rounds for me and work for her my friend Nora took me out to Olive Garden. It's our favorite place to get together when Lily is in the hospital. We have a great dinner and run into one of my favorite people from the hospital cafeteria. Then we go to Kohl's to look for some ICU friendly clothes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they did have one display full of button up shirts for little girls. We picked up the biggest we could find. Then I saw it.
The absolute perfect Easter dress for Lily.
With a big sister style for Lorelei. Just perfect for our upcoming family pictures. I was wanting to do something focusing on tulips as a reference to the essay "Welcome to Holland" by Emily Perl Kingsley. The dresses have slightly blurred tulips of the widely opening variety, with lots of dark green, orange, and purple... all the favorite colors in our family. And it even has yellow and white, which Lorelei will love because those are Nonni's favorite colors.
By this time, I'm beyond thrilled. I'm so excited in fact that I'm telling my cashier about Lily and her story, being in PICU, and the dresses. She feels so moved to help that she takes coupons that other shoppers have given up without using and gives me both $10 and 30% off. The total discount is so much that if I were to compare it to the price of the dresses at their sale value, I end up paying $1.39 for two gorgeous Easter dresses. They retail at nearly $100, and because of the love and inspiration of other people making sales at the right time and returning unused coupons... these gorgeous Easter dresses that mean so much to my family were basically free.
I cried. I'm even crying writing this. It is this type of goodness in the world, bringing meals to the mother of a hospitalized child, opening a home to allow someone access to showerandlaundry, passing along coupons at just the right time... that makes special needs parenting so much easier to bear, each a piece of the puzzle that together makes a miracle.
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That is such a great story, Danielle! I am so glad that those great things are happening for you. Thanks for looking for the good and for sharing! You are such an inspiration to me. Can't wait to see those family pictures!
ReplyDeleteNow I get the blog background too! :)