Life's Little Blessings

I was sitting on my patio along about noon today, listening to the birds and enjoying the day in my nightgown, when my Yard Angel showed up out back, unannounced.  He had things that he wanted to do in the back.  Clean up an old compost pile that once had a viable fence around it but had become a cesspool of volunteer trees and weeds.  Trim a shrub that was out of shape.  Clean up my patio which has suffered from a garage remodeling project probably five years ago.  Did I ask him to do it?  No.  But it NEEDED to be done.  I knew it, and he knew it. 

I've written about James before.  He is the husband of one of my former students, now living in Plainfield.  Our paths crossed several years ago, and Facebook kept us together.  If you look at James, you would say that he is an unlikely candidate for physical labor.  He's a big boy.  He is disabled with back problems.  But he has three things going for him:  honesty, the desire to continue with a job until it is DONE, and to anticipate things that need to be done without being asked.  He doesn't quit!

James doesn't do what he does around my house for money, although I surely pay him as I can.  He takes pride in his projects, and I have to say that he has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help me out.  Last fall, he and his family took care of my leaves.  Last winter, he helped paint rooms, shampoo carpets, and get my house acceptable for lots of company.  This spring, he has mowed my lawn, trimmed my shrubs, cleaned my gutters, pressure-washed the front of my house--even has come over in the wee hours of Friday mornings to take my trash cans to the curb. 

I guess I should first have said that, every year, I have had to scramble to find someone to take care of these things.  I had a fellow that mowed, and I was grateful for that.  But James mows, and then some.  And since J. is supporting a family of four kids on SS Disability, I have no qualms at all about letting him do what he can for me, so I can do what I can for him. 

I am so blessed!  I'm not sure if James understands that, without his help, I would be getting near the point of having to give up my house.  I'm trying not to be sappy here, but I am so grateful for this man's help and his family's friendship.  Thank you to my Yard Angel and his family.  And thanks be to God for life's little blessings!