Kindness

Last weekend we were supposed to go visit with my dear friend Susan and her family. Due to Connor being sick, me being sick and Higgins being diagnosed with a bone chip in his knee, we decided to stay home. Sus, I SWEAR Next year!!! FYI, Connor and I still have a stupid cough and snot. So, be thankful we did not share this with you guys!!! UGH!!!

Between feeling like poop and trying to keep the kids entertained, I was EXHAUSTED. Jeff was just trying to avoid all the germs to stay healthy. By typing that I realize I probably just jinxed his health. Sorry Jeff!

Saturday, Jeff went to get the mail (he does this most days - he's a good mail go getter). He came in with this huge envelope addressed to me. It was from one of my pretend friends (i.e. one of my online friends), Brea, she's so fun. I am inept at pronouncing her name properly. For years I read it daily online as "Bree-Ah." Hence, she's "Bree-AH" to me. Imagine my surprise when I found out, her name is pronounced, "Brae-a" as in the tar pits. No she's not named after a tar pit, but that is the proper pronunciation. Why this long intro? Because I now just call her "Cheese-ah." As it's a silly inside joke due to my brain not being able to process her poor name. In turn, she calls me "Keeeeeeee-im" with lots of great vowel sounds between the K and M.
So, Cheese-ah sent me something. Interesting, she said to expect something in the mail. I hardly ever get mail from friends. I was so excited as I opened the package, what could it be?

A small background, Cheese-ah, just lost her beloved Choco Lab, Tucker. She has been a great listening ear for me during our time with Magnum. She knew the exact emotions I was experiencing at the loss of our beloved fur-baby. All her cyber-hugs and words of wisdom were exactly what I needed. Upon opening the envelope, there was a note.  After reading the note, I was expecting a nice poem or something. I was not expecting what I opened.

It was the most beautiful water color of my boy. My boy was looking back at me with his beautiful brown eyes. Just typing this makes those tears of loss sting my eyes again. My Mags was looking right back at me. This small gesture just was so overwhelming. Brea and I only met once (but we "talk" most days), I can't believe that she would go out of her way to send me a beautiful tribute for my beloved boy is just too much to express in words. Then I realized, she would because she is good people. She just is.

It took awhile to collect myself, but once I did, I walked outside to show it to Jeff. He too was overcome with emotion. I have no idea how this artist captured my dog's soul, but he did. Simply perfect. I can never thank Cheese-ah enough. THANK YOU MY FRIEND!!!! Or as Jeff said, "Send her anything she wants, there is no way to repay this kindness!"

Besides the beauty of the water color, the real kicker is this. Take a look at Magnum's urn.

Do you see it? The picture Brea gave the artist of my Magnum, is the SAME picture I place on his urn. There is no way she knew that. Only a handful of people have seen Mags urn, and since Brea lives about 12 hours from me, she's not one of them.

Seriously, when the Universe sends you good people, hold them tight to you. Thank you Brea for being so kind. I can never thank you enough. I will always look at my new art work, think of Magnum and think of how kind and thoughtful you are. THANK YOU!!!

PS- My attempt of paying this kindness on was passing out ride tickets at the Zoo. I had a collection of ride bands, and since we never used them, I passed them onto other families. I try to keep my NICE IN and NICE OUT in balance :) I don't want bad Karma to get me.

Brea, our friend Jen, and Me