Sometimes I Get A Good Feeling….

Part of my ongoing series of uplifting stories....

Sometimes I Get a Good Feeling …..

Last fall, I started having problems with my then 11 year old car.  First, the driver’s side door refused to open from the inside.  Just as I was going to try to have it fixed, my oil started to leak and I needed a new gasket. Then, I had to replace the transmission fluid lines and subsequently the transmission. Next the other car needed costly repairs as well.  Every time I got the budget to a point where I could even think about having the door fixed, something else broke that took priority including a couple of months ago, when out of the blue, what looked like a clear piece of tile that came from who knows where shattered the back windshield as I was stopped at a red light. 

So in order to get out of the car, I had to have the engine running, open the window, stick my arm out and open the door from the outside, hold the door open with my knee, close the window and turn off the engine.  It was a pain but not a priority.

Since I am still paying off all the other car repairs and a new list of things need to be repaired as well, I had resigned myself to having to go through this long ritual to get out of my car.  The day of the Secretary of State saga with my mom, I was complaining to one of my little sisters that it was getting dangerous because our mom wouldn’t wait for me to get out and help her and I was afraid that she would fall or get hit by a car before I managed to get out and around the car to assist her.  

My sister (who had just had 2 separate incidents of her new car being hit while it was parked) said that she would ask the body shop that fixed her car if they could fix my door for me.  She asked and they said that they could but they were very busy and shorthanded as well.  This Wednesday, they took my door apart and after checking everything, found that it was just the inside door handle that was bad.  They ordered the handle and put my door back together and had me drop my car off yesterday morning.  When they called that it was ready, they told me that they were only charging me for the part and not for the labor as we had told them that I am the main one who drives our parents to their doctor’s appointments, etc. This is a godsend for me at this time.  I can’t thank them enough.  The body shop owner said that he hopes when he needs an act of kindness, someone will be there for him.  I am sure someone will.  What goes around come around as the saying goes.

I still have more issues with the car (ignition coil, electrical problems, etc.) but this has taken one big one off my plate as I can now get out of the car and to my mom’s side before she can get out and try to take off on her own.

Sometimes I get a good feeling….

Sometimes I Get a Good Feeling …..

Sometimes I Get a Good Feeling …..

'Above the Clouds' photo by AVR

The stress of traveling makes my fibromyalgia flare up to varying degrees, and because I don’t really look ill, people are not always understanding when it takes me a while to get my stuff together - plus the pain and stiffness causes me to be less than my normally cheerful self.

I don’t like to say that I have fibromyalgia because I think it reinforces the illness, but ignoring it does not lessen the physical manifestations.  I have found that food sensitivities trigger flare ups so I have to travel with all my medicines, supplements and some food in my carry on and purse in addition to a medical device for my sleep apnea.  Juggling 3 relatively heavy bags is a challenge even on good days.

On my flights to Reno (to visit my grandchildren this April) and then back home to Chicago, I was pleasantly surprised by the many kind and helping hands along the way – the TSA agent who didn’t get mad when I misunderstood his instructions about taking my C-Pap all the way out of the case, the airline employee who suddenly appeared and picked up my luggage that had tipped over, the people who helped me get my carry on into and out of the overhead luggage bins, the man who watched my luggage for me so I wouldn’t have to take it all with me when I went to the bathroom, etc., etc.  I had made my mantra/affirmation for this trip “I create a bubble of ease around me when I travel’ (from the Louise Hay daily calendar I received from my sister at Christmas) and it seemed to be working.

I had a pleasant conversation with a young man on the way to Reno who has children around the same ages as my grandchildren and (after telling him I was working on the "Shadows on the Carpet" trilogy) I was a bit surprised when he said that the next time we met on a plane I would be famous to which I replied, “Why not.”.  I thank him for his confidence in my ‘sight unseen’ writing ability and I truly hope he will be able to support his family by doing something he is passionate about soon.

On the way home, I was really impressed by the young playwright that sat next to me.  He was delightful company and my trip ‘flew’ by. He graciously listened to me babble on and on.  I especially appreciated his encouragement regarding my ‘Views from a Plane’ poems (I showed him the ones I wrote on the way to Reno) as I had started to wonder if anyone would really be interested in reading them.  

This was a young man with a big heart and shining spirit yet I sensed that there were some issues he was dealing with. He told me about the play he was writing and it sounded very interesting.  I wish him much success with it.   

Sometimes I get a good feeling…..

Sometimes I Get A Good Feeling…… (2)

This is the 2nd in my Sometimes I Get A Good Feeling series of uplifting stories.  It was written last year.

Sometimes I Get A Good Feeling……

photo by AVR

The other day I was on the ‘L’ on my way home from work.  It was pretty full and I was standing holding on to a strap.  A young man standing next to me remarked that it was a beautiful day.  It was. As the L swayed back and forth in a turn, I had a bit of exercise just trying not to fall.  At this point, a young lady pointed to my foot and told me that my shoelace was untied. I thanked her for letting me know but I was in no position to tie it.  She offered to tie it for me if I lifted my foot.  Balancing on one leg as she tied my shoe, I joked that I was getting a workout on my ride home.  When she finished tying my shoe, she gave me her seat.  The young woman I sat next to, who had carry on luggage in front of her, apologized that she was unable to offer her seat to me because of her luggage. 

I was struck by the politeness and compassion of these young people.  We are used to hearing only about the negative things that some of them do and the many positive stories go untold.  I have decided to share the positive when I encounter it.  Sometimes I get a good feeling…..

Sometimes I Get a Good Feeling.... June 25, 2013

    This is what happens when it looks like all is lost but you refuse to give up!!!

Congratulations Chicago Blackhawks

Sometimes I get a good feeling.......

Sometimes I Get a Good Feeling..... (1)

I started this last year about things that happen to me that uplift me.  Today, I am sharing the 1st one.

Sometimes I Get a Good Feeling …..

photo by AVR

Yesterday, as I got off the ‘L’ (for those who aren’t from Chicago – the ‘L’ is the elevated and in places not elevated CTA train system), I heard a shout behind me which I ignored.  The next thing I knew, a tall, young black man was beside me saying, “Excuse me but I’m so happy. I turned 27 today”.  I congratulated him on his birthday as we kept walking.  He was smiling and I caught a whiff of alcohol as he asked where I was going.  I told him that my husband was picking me up to which he replied, “Your husband is a lucky man”.

He repeated that he turned 27 that day and his exuberance was disarming.  When he asked me what age I turned that day, I just said that I was much older than 27.  He said that I looked about 35, for which I thanked him and told him he had made my day.  I am in fact, a short, fat 61 year old white woman (although I see myself as young and skinny).

This young man’s joy at turning 27 was becoming contagious.  He asked if he could get a hug.  I hesitated because my husband of almost 18 years (who for some reason still gets jealous when he sees other men pay attention to me) should have been turning the corner at any minute.  Then I remembered Leo Buscalia’s words, “Hugs not drugs”, and gave him one.

As he went skipping off, I saw our car turning the corner.  I shared the experience with my hubby and I couldn’t forget the unbridled joy this young man radiated and how guarded I had been at first because of the very real threats of violence we face from each other during these times.  I thought about how it is a shame that this is the type of world we are living in, but that moments like these, reaffirm my belief that all is not lost. Change for the better is here and now if we all believe and change the viral meme from violence, hate, fear to joy and love and light.
  

Reflecting on this experience, I realized that this is the kind of thing my youngest son had probably done when he was younger and still might do, i.e. share his joy on his birthday with total strangers and ask for hugs.

There is hope.  Believe it.  Share your joy with someone today or let someone share theirs with you.  Spread the love, for we truly are all one in spirit.   Sometimes I get a good feeling…….