John 3:16 – Be thankful, grateful, patient, charitable, kind, and smile, as it is infectious. God Bless America; protect our president and the military!
~~~ Happy 75th Birthday to one of my older brothers, Andy! ~~~
Over the years, there have been many people who have helped us, including my Aunt Cass Donahue, who lent me the down payment money shortly after we were married, when our car died. My mother, on a tight budget year, gave us a weekend away at the shore with the kids after we purchased our house. Also, a host of other times when family and friends helped us put a deck on our first house, install a dishwasher, and turn the attic into a 5th bedroom in our second home. Now I also helped them with projects too.
However, in response to the crux of this prompt, and with today being my brother Andy’s 75th birthday, I am going to highlight one of the biggest and kindest things he and his wife, Regina, did for me/us in their own quiet way, unbeknownst to anyone until after the fact.
I had a knee replacement in 2005 that, in 2015, developed a loose part that became infected through nobody’s fault but my own. If you’ve never been through this, God bless you! If you have, you will know they have to take out the old knee, insert a cement gel pack block, and place an antibacterial PICC line, which they train you to administer yourself over 8 weeks.
Once the infection is cleared, the skilled doctors (a shout-out to retired Dr. Curt Miller and Premier Orthopedics) will perform another knee replacement. The recovery process for both the infection and the surgery takes about 3 to 4 months and is not for the faint of heart; it’s quite an ordeal, as you can imagine. At that time, we were living in a beautiful Tudor-style house built in 1928, which had three stories plus a basement and five bedrooms. As you might guess, there are a lot of steps to navigate across several different floors.
To make a long story short, the day before surgery, and being a heart patient, I was scheduled for a Nuclear Stress Test as part of the required Pre-Op. It was during the break between the first part of the Stress Test and the Second part; there was about a 15- to 20-minute layover. I remember my phone ringing as clear as a bell and seeing it was my brother Andy, I picked up. Him and his wife live in a very nice split-level home in West Goshen. The conversation went something like this.
Hey Dan! Do you have a minute to talk? I explained my current situation but assured him I could talk for a few minutes. He said Regina and I have discussed your situation, cleared out our room with a private bathroom, moved our stuff up to one of our kids’ vacated rooms, and want you to come stay with us for however long that needs to be!
After some hemming and hawing, I knew it was something that would make things much easier not only for me but also for Nancy, who was working in Kennett Square with Genesis Health Care. It would be a shorter commute with less stress and worry. Also, his wife would be home to assist when the visiting nurse and occupational therapist came throughout the process of full recovery. We lived with them for the better part of three months.
In 2018, after selling our 5-bedroom house and needing to vacate it within 5 weeks, and long before we could find, store, and manage the process of finding a home, we were once again extended the same favor by my late brother-in-law, Joe, and sister Mary Coyle, who also lived out in West Goshen. They needed help as he was having bypass surgery and we needed a place to stay until we found a house.
As I type, I/we are still, to this day, humbled and extremely grateful to my family siblings that have shown many times over that actions speak louder than words my family.
So, happiest of birthdays Andy! Thank you Regina! RIP Joe and God Bless my sister Mary!
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