A HAPPY STORY

     Many of you who follow me on Facebook, heard last Friday about that Amber Alert that many of us received on our phones. For those not following me, a girl that I went to high school with many moons ago, Tracey (Miller) Jordan was killed by her ex-husband, who proceeded to kidnap their two boys and fled the state. One of my high school buds, Ralph DeJulia was dating the slain girl at the time, so my heart goes out to Ralph and Tracey's family. Luckily, the boys were found with their killer father in South Carolina on Friday night. The boys are now safe and the father is in custody. Unfortunately, this had to happen two days before Mother's Day, which makes this story incredibly sad. 

     After thinking about my friend Ralph and Tracey this whole weekend, I read an amazing story about another mother that actually put a smile on my face that I wanted to share with you and kick this week off on a happy note. The mother of a stillborn baby was left totally surprised after a complete stranger who'd bought her unused baby crib at a garage sale and transformed it into a beautiful memorial bench and brought it back to her as a gift. Is that amazing? Trust me, when I say not all people are stupid! Some people are truly amazing and I love sharing stories like this when I'm in the mood.

     Valerie Watts was still mourning the July 2013 death of little Noah when she decided to hold the garage sale outside her Cokato, Minnesota, home. Initially, she didn't want to part with the bed she'd put together for her baby boy, but ended up agreeing to sell it to craftsman Gerald Kumpula after hearing how he recycles second-hand furniture. She said, "His wife was looking through some of the baby clothes and asked how old my son was since I don't use the crib anymore. And I told her that he'd passed in July." As I read this story, I also wondered what the hell old people were looking at baby clothes for. Maybe they were thinking about their grandchildren? I guess it's not my problem. 

     Kumpula only found out about the death of Watts' son as he drove home with his wife. That's when he decided to turn the crib into something special for Watts. A week later, Kumpula returned to Watts' home with the beautiful memorial chair to commemorate little Noah, who died after the umbilical cord became pinched in the womb. Watts immediately burst into tears when she saw the chair. I have to be honest, I don't even know these people, and I wanted to burst into tears reading this story! This just proves that there still is some great people out there. Angels if you will. If you believe in that sort of stuff.