~Toughbooktalk~

Blair -

I woke up this morning and checked my eMail; at first, I thought someone must have hacked YOUR eMail account because I couldn't believe what I saw. Then I read the eMail from NBR underneath... (I have NBR set to automatically send all PMs to my eMail account) and I was dumbfounded. For a second time.

I really can't afford to be proud right now, so I'm just going to say thanks. I never imagined you guys might do something like this; I just felt a need to get out what I was going through to some people whom I knew would care. I can't begin to say how thankful we are; the timing was unbelievable.

Today is my 7th Wedding Anniversary; I had planned to give Beth a card with an IOU for flowers in it because I'm still waiting on last week's Work Orders to be approved for payment. Now I can get her some actual flowers "on the day", though we won't be able to do dinner until she's through with "Hell Week" - all her classes have evening performances and she's not home until 10PM or so every night through Thursday. After that though...

I've spoken to my mom about using the rest of it to take her to Corpus so she can visit the ocean one last time. She has mentioned a few times that she misses the smell and taste of the sea; those of you who grew up with the gentle song of the surf in your ears know it never leaves your heart.

She patently refuses; I could see the set of her face she gets when she's about to tell her son how it will be, saying we should use it to get ahead of our bills. *Sigh* I'm going to see if my wife can persuade her that it's all right, we'll find a way and she doesn't need to make this sacrifice. I don't know if Beth will take my side or hers though; but it's great to see the old fire in my mom's eyes, even if she's fighting against something I think she should be fighting for.

We'll see. Maybe I'll squirrel some of it away towards Dad's airfare for when the time comes... that would be the sensible thing to do. But there are so many sensible things, it will take some thought to figure out how to use this most graciously provided windfall most wisely. At least I got mom to concede that she must go shopping for some live flowers. That's a start.

So, from all of us in the TinkerDwagon household... Thanks to all of you who had a hand in this; it really does help a great deal. We are all amazed and truly grateful.

mnem
*ThankfulDwagon*

I never thought I would be the first to reply, and I am sure the rest will chime in along the way, but our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to your mother and all your family. In regards to how the money "should" be spent, let me offer my humble advice. My mother is currently in a rehab facility (she is almost 95 and fell the end of March, fortunately nothing broken, but it took a lot out of her), and I can speak from experience. You will always have bills and other responsibilities and sometimes they will take you to a point when all seems lost. However, you have only ONE mother and that will always trump any thing else on the priorities list. I have learned with my mother it is sometimes best to act first using what your heart tells you than to give her a chance to convince you otherwise. You may have to balance everything else as if you were on a high wire, but in the end you will have both the memories of what you did with her and the comfort of knowing she went on her final journey a happy mother that was proud to call you son. God be with you and I hope either way all goes well. Robert

Paul...I am glad this was a surprise for you because it's not easy to keep a secret from the Dwagon . We have a great bunch of members on TBT and NBR that wanted to help you out by sending a little cash. Hopefully it will help you out and make a few things a little easer for you.
God Bless