An Angel in Jeans

I am a pretty sluggish person by nature.  My husband and I joke that if my blood pressure was much lower I would be in a constant coma.  I combat this with a good multivitamin, and coffee.

I've tried different brands of vitamins over the years, and rejected them for one reason or another.  Then a couple years ago a friend told me about these, and I LOVE them.  They have a lot of B vitamins in them which help with energy, and enables me to handle stress well.  I don't like to ever be without them.

I can buy them locally, but if I purchase them online they are half the price--so I get four or five bottles at once.  I knew that I needed to reorder them soon, but in the back of my mind I was sure I had one more bottle.

On Saturday morning I tossed down my vitamins, threw away the empty bottle, and went to the cupboard to get the new one.  Imagine my irritation when I remembered that I had sold a friend a bottle, and it was my last one. 

I immediately ordered more online, but typically it takes about four days for them to arrive.  My husband kindly offered to buy a bottle in town that afternoon, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  

Due to a number of delays by the time he reached the health food store they were closed.   I was frustrated, but resigned myself to wait for my order to arrive.

On Sunday night my baby started coughing and running a fever, and by Monday afternoon I knew she should see a doctor.  In our town there are no 24 hour clinics so the only option is the emergency room.  I made the required call to my caseworker, and waited for my husband to come home and watch the other children.

By now my lack of vitamins was catching up with me.  I felt like I was wading mud, and I threw up a desperate prayer that the health food store would be open on Labor Day--

It wasn't.  

Then I remembered that my friend takes the same vitamins, and I called her to see if she had an extra bottle.  She did, and we agreed to meet when I got done in the emergency room.

When you live in a small town--with no walk in clinic, and you take your baby to the emergency room--on a holiday you will be there

 a

 looooong

 time. 

 Four hours later I walked out of the hospital and gave up on the vitamins. It was too late to meet my friend.  I will just have to be tired for the next four days I thought.

I drove home, fixed a bottle for the baby, and settled in the corner of the couch.  

My dear husband had fed the other munchkins, and tucked two of them in bed.  

My laundry sat unfinished, there were dishes waiting in the sink, and my baby was still sick.

As I sat there thinking of everything I needed to do yet there was a knock at my door.

My son opened it and there stood my friend, and her husband, with the bottle of vitamins in their hands.  

To fully appreciate this story you should know that my friends husband is a tow truck driver.  He had worked two 24 hour shifts over the week-end, and was finally heading home to sleep.

He drove out of his way to go home and get the vitamins, and then come back and bring them to me.

He looked terrible--his eyes were bloodshot--his shirt had been slept in, and his jeans were dirty.

But to me he looked like an angel.