Thanksgiving Thoughts

This is my friend Cheryl. Sorry about the sizing of the pix's, took them off her Facebook page. Cheryl and her husband Dan, have been dealers at Country Roads for some time now. On Sunday, I had to say good-bye to Cheryl with hopes of seeing her and Dan soon. Here's their story in a condensed version. Cheryl & Dan are about my age, with Dan being a bit older. They had a house, have grown kids, a couple of grandkids, one being autistic, and Dan was self-employed. And with the economy the way it was/is, he couldn't afford their health insurance, so he let it go. He had no other choice. Dan is diabetic and hasn't taken the best of care for himself. These past four months he has been seriously ill, and a recent surgery just pushed everything over the top for him and Cheryl. They sold their house, and in this housing market here in SoCal, didn't get much but she was thankful they got "something". After the house sold, Cheryl moved in with a friend while Dan was still in the hospital. Now, she has learned that Dan will be in a medical care facility here for some time. There seems to be some major medical "mistakes" that have happened to him. Meanwhile, Cheryl is driving to Arizona to live with daughter. She told me she didn't even know if her car would make it there! They have to leave Dan, but her and her two grown kids will take turns coming out here to be with him. She said this whole ordeal is surreal! I hadn't seen Cheryl for awhile, and she had come into Country Roads this past Sunday and was telling me the latest in this path in life they've been placed on. I could hear, see, and feel her hopelessness. It broke my heart. She had a few things left at the store she had marked down to 75% and had told me just to donate what was left to charity. If you remember a post I wrote when Rachel Ashwell had been at the store for a book signing a week or so ago, I had a customer want more than 50% off of a $32 item in Cheryl's space. I briefly tried to explain to this woman why there were no further discounts, mentioning what Cheryl was going through and "why" her and Dan needed the money. The woman just looked at me and said, "we all need the money". I'm still in amazement over that comment, actually disturbed at the selfishness of it. And if the store hadn't been so crowded, I may have slapped her! Before Cheryl finished saying her good-byes to me, she was telling me how much she had wanted to come to Rachel's book signing and was sorry she missed it. I told her to hang on a minute, and I got a chair and climbed up on a shelf behind the counter where we have some signed copies of Rachel's books for sale. I grabbed one and gave it to Cheryl telling her that I wanted her to have this. I reminded her that Rachel wrote this book when she was at a point in her life that she was struggling with some issues of her own. I saw Cheryl's eyes fill with tears, her bottom lip start to quiver and everything in me wanted to throw my arms around her and give her a big hug. But I knew in my heart that would cause us both to cry uncontrollably. So instead, I mustered up a big smile, and told her to stay in touch, got her new email address, and watched her walk away. I prayed her car would take her safely to Arizona. The reason for this story? It is the little things in life that can make a difference in peoples lives. It's Thanksgiving, and please remember it's not about all the food on the table, it's about the people "around" that table. Help when you can, it doesn't have to be a lot, but just let someone know you care and please, remember always to be "thankful" for what you have!