OYA 3/20

Please forgive my tardiness - I've been trying to stay outta the hospital myself the past 2 days.

I could hardly believe that I had been admitted a week ago.  So much had happened.  EVERYTHING had changed.  Yet somehow, we were both still fighting. 

And it sucked.  Big time.  But from time to time, God sends little earth-angels to help us through those sucky times.  One of my angels was Gloria.  I don't know why, but she became part of our fight. 

Gloria was a worker in the hospital cafeteria.  She delivered meals to my floor Tuesdays-Saturday 12-8.  Yes, I learned her schedule so that I could adjust my order if she was leaving soon or coming on shift!  But she did so much more than deliever food.  She always brought me a smile and a little more will to fight.  Even if she wasn't coming to my room, if she was on the floor, she's stop by and ask me what I'd eaten so far today.  If it wasn't good enough for her standards (and dang, that girl had HIGH standards!), she'd give me a time limit to improve it.  Ok, I expect you to have eaten all of that yogurt and drink a juice within the next hour.  And I kid you not, she would check to make sure I hit the mark!

I hated Sundays and Mondays because I knew she'd be gone.  Well, she even offered to come sit with me on her days off just to keep me company and make sure I and Baby Girl were eating enough.  Something in my heart tells me that I wouldn't have had to ask twice if I wanted this.  But she needed her time off too, to enjoy her own family and watch her granddaughter play basketball.  She knew I had no appetite whatsoever, so she'd let me know where she was sending her boyfriend for lunch in case I would like some take out from that restaurant instead. 

I truly loved Gloria.  One day, I asked her why she was doing all this for us.  She said that she just felt that God wanted her to help us.  That was part of her mission on earth so to speak.  And let me tell you, there is no way I could ever come close to repaying her for what she gave us.