Community Support

Not that this is the way you want to make acquaintances and life long friends, but I have to say that everyone has come together for us. Even people I least expected it from. I don't know if it's just a country music song or if it's an actual saying, but 'You find out who your friends are' is one of the truest phrases I've ever heard. When something tragic like this happens, the real people, the good people come out. Not just the ones that you expect, but the truly good people out there.
        I used to be a fairly pessimistic person with a poor outlook on the general population. I felt like everyone was only out to better themselves or their situation without a care in the world as to how they were affecting others. So many people have proved me wrong. I've never been so happy to be wrong in my life. I am also wrong on other accounts. There are people I expected to be here that aren't. People that I thought would be there no matter what. Again, you find out who your friends are. I don't dwell on that much. I have too much support and love around me to let those few people get me down.
          We still have doctors and nurses from the first hospital texting and calling us to find out how Todd is doing. He was at that hospital less than an hour. These are truly good people. Some of the paramedics are keeping up with him through my Facebook posts. The staff at O2B have come by in mass, called, text, and even thrown fundraisers for Todd. Friends of friends are donating money to us to help pay our bills and medical expenses. Who knew there were still good people out there?
          There are people that check in with me on a daily/weekly/biweekly basis now that I hadn't talked to in months or even been very close to. I don't know what I would do without these people now. I look forward to their questions. I look forward to hearing from them. Though some of them I know so little about their lives, mine is an open book right now and it doesn't bother me.
          There are kids that Todd knows that want to do fundraisers. Twin girls that he is friends with are setting up a lemonade stand for him at their mom's garage sale, their idea! Another friend of a friend is making necklaces to sell to give us the proceeds, this woman doesn't even know me. My father works at Ford Motor Company at the headquarters in Detroit, MI. They held a bake sale for us. The profits were tremendous. I've never met half of those people. There are truly good people in the world all the way from the Elementary school to the older generations.
          I work with a lot of people, from nurses to respiratory therapists, to techs, to doctors, to PT, OT, etc. So many of these people, some I rarely talk to, some I thought didn't even like me, have reached out to me. If there was ever a time to feel alone.... this is NOT it. There are still moments where I feel alone, lonely, small, and insignificant... but, I think that goes with the situation. You're just going to feel like crap sometimes. But those crappy times don't hurt as much, don't happen as often, because I have all of these people around me. I can never thank everyone enough. When I'm too exhausted to focus on Todd, his illness, his situation... I'm able to focus on all these people. All these actions. Thank you.