A Miracle?

So today has been a long day, to put it mildly. But the story of today's stress is not the point of this blog, nor even of this particular post. I want to tell you a story, and I want to say "thank you" to some very important people.

We still own the house we moved out of last December, but that's a long story and if you don't already know it you probably don't need to know the details. Suffice to say, I stopped by the house we own but don't live in today and, low and behold, the basement is flooded. We've owned it for five years and never had water and now, less then a week before we're finally supposed to close on a sale, this happens. Needless to say, I was upset.

I called my mother in law (Crackers) to make sure she could stay with Charlie and Lily so I could work at the house (Brooke is away for the weekend); I called my brother (Umple John) to bring his tools and his handy self to help me clean; I called my parents (Mommom and Poppop) to bring a shopvac and more hands; I called my sister in law (Aunt Jill) to bring another shop vac. Nobody hesitated, nobody complained that their Saturday was ruined. Everybody dropped what they were doing and came right over.

It's nice, but how is this a miracle? I was supposed to go to my cousin Amy's housewarming party with Charlie and Lily this afternoon but was pretty sure I was going to be preoccupied at the house all day and unable to attend (I was able to go; congrats Amy and Anthony!), so I texted her sister Melissa to pass it on to Amy so they knew not to expect us. Melissa asked if I needed anything and I responded "an extra miracle would be nice."

About thirty seconds after hanging up, Umple John pulled up with all his tools. About ten seconds after that, Mommom and Poppop got there with all sorts of things I hadn't thought to ask them to bring. About five minutes after that, Aunt Jill arrived, having brought us not only the promised shop vac but also some extra supplies from Home Depot that she bought for us on her way over. And we spent our day ripping up gross wet carpet and scraping linoleum flooring.

It didn't occur to me until finally sitting down around 9pm this evening that maybe Melissa sent me that miracle after all. Think about it: how many people are lucky enough to have a family who will literally drop whatever their doing to suddenly and without notice come and help do gross, smelly, physical labor on a beautiful Saturday morning? I asked Melissa for a miracle, and our family came.

Perhaps there is something to this after all. Looking back on the two-plus years of Charlie and Lily, on Annaleigh's sickness and death, on extreme prematurity, on a nightmare pregnancy, on infertility, I'm realizing that our family has done more for us then anyone has any right to expect. I can't possibly tell you everything that they've meant to us and every way they've helped us, but I can tell you that we wouldn't be here-- none of us-- without them. Their love and support and shop vacs have kept us strong and made us the family that we are.

So to Crackers and Mommom and Poppop and Aunt Jill and Umple John (and everyone else, too), we thank you for everything you've done for us and we love you very, very much.

Is it a miracle to have a wonderful family? I don't know. But even if it's not, on days like today, it feels like a miracle to me.