Beep! Beep! Meal Train Coming Through!

The Universe works in mysterious ways. I've always believed this. I could sit and write an entire book about this. The pages would be filled with all of the moments in my life, both big and small, when this simple quote could be supported. What happened on Saturday, just 2 days ago, would be included in my book.

Lisa, our sweet friend Kim, and myself had plans on Saturday, June 3rd. We invited company over for a cookout, pit fire, drinks, great conversation, and lots of laughs. We had been planning this evening for a few weeks. Unfortunately, on Friday, at the last minute, our company cancelled. We were disappointed and a little heartbroken.

Instead of wallowing in the disappointment, we decided to have a Girl's Night on Saturday. We invited our neighbor friends over for drinks, S'Mores, watermelon, a pit fire, and an evening to unwind, be silly, and have fun.

Two hours into the festivities, one of our neighbor friends got a call. Her husband, for the past year, has been through hell and back with health issues. His health had deteriorated to the point of needing a liver and kidney transplant. The clock was ticking. He didn't have much time.

The call came from the hospital. They had a liver and kidney for her husband. She needed to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.

Our neighbor friend, who received the call, is also the caretaker of her elderly Mom. We call her Mama. She's in her 80's and she's a hot shit. Mama was there with us for Girl's night.

Lisa and I told our neighbor friend that we'd take care of Mama. Everyone urged our neighbor friend to GO! Get your husband to the hospital. We'll take care of the rest.

We witnessed a miracle. 

We clapped, had a moment of silence, talked about what just happened, and we were all crossing our fingers and toes that everything went smooth.

Lisa stayed with Mama for most of the night until our neighbor friend came home. The surgery was delayed a bit for unknown reasons on the donor's part.

A relative of our neighbor friend volunteered to stay with Mama throughout all of this. Lisa checked in periodically.

Our neighbor friend kept me updated. The surgery was going to happen very shortly. The recovery period, if everything went okay, would be a little over a week.

At that point, I was trying to figure out what Lisa and I could do to help out. It didn't take long for me to come up with a plan.

A. Meal. Train. 

I wanted to coordinate a Meal Train for a week. Assistance could be in the form of a heat and serve meal, ingredients, or funds for Lisa and I to purchase ingredients to make into a meal.

In the past, I've witnessed a lot of people, via social media, coordinate a Meal Train. These Meal Trains were started to assist families who had a member battling cancer or had to recover from a major surgery. There's even a few websites that help organize these Meal Trains.

I asked our neighbor friend for permission to do this and she was more than happy to accept my offer. A half hour later, I posted a shortened version of our neighbor friend's story on Facebook and asked for assistance.

I didn't use the websites available because I have a fairly wide reach on my personal Facebook page. 

Within 2 hours after I published my post, I had enough of everything to cover 8 days. At that point, I made a tentative menu.

I was also sporting a smile from ear to ear.

For the next 8 days, we'll be preparing or heating meals to deliver to our neighbor friend's house for 5 p.m.

I am beyond grateful for the quick show of support.

We couldn't have done with without the help from our community.

We've got some scrumptious meals planned and all of those meals will include fresh fruits and salads.

This is the point where I reiterate that the Universe works in mysterious ways.

Had our company not cancelled, we wouldn't have had Girl's Night.

Our neighbor friend and Mama wouldn't have been sitting around the fire with us on Saturday.

We wouldn't have witnessed the phone call.

We wouldn't have been there to assist while our neighbor friend rushed off to bring her husband to the hospital.

We wouldn't have been aware of the assistance needed for the next week or so.

There was a reason why our plans were cancelled at the last minute.

And, the Universe was behind it all.