My father had a stroke Saturday night – his second one in less than nine months. Bottom line: he’s doing OK. I haven’t had time to process yet but I do have a few thoughts to share in the few minutes I have free.

I’m so thankful there are people in this world who have the gift of mercy. I’ve been able to meet a few of these special ones this week, and be on the receiving end of their kindness. There are times in each of our lives when our paths briefly cross with someone, and yet the seemingly small thing they do for us carries a huge and lasting impact. 

The ambulance crew who lightened our anxiety level and responded to my dad’s jokes by joking back with him (speaking his language). The nurses at the emergency room who stroked his arm and told him he was going to be fine. After he was moved to a bigger hospital, his nurses greeted me as I walked in with a helium balloon, "Oh good, a balloon for my sweet man." (And then a few months ago, I watched nurses at another hospital do a Chicken Dance in celebration of a cancer patient being released.) My mother’s sister offering to come and help anyway she can. My brother’s college buddy who came by to visit my dad, alone most of the day and not knowing anyone yet in this new state, and lifted his spirits. The hospital chaplain who stopped by to chat. Our brand new friends who pray and care.

God bless these caregivers. They make the world a much nicer place.