Tell Them!

Ten years ago, I told my then-husband that we needed to separate and he needed to get his life together.

Ten years ago was when he took my 5-month-old and ran into traffic with her.

Ten years ago was when an amazing woman entered my life, through DCF, and was used by God to be an instrument in literally changing the course of my life and my daughter’s future. She entered my life because of the danger my daughter was in, yet walked by my side and taught me what domestic violence was, that I was living in it, and that it was time to get out.

She both encouraged me and pushed me into being and doing better for my daughter.

She was my DCF case manager.

For several dark years, she was my go-to person to navigate the hell I was in and the future I was meant to have. She was one of many people that God used to help me and she holds a special place in my heart.

Her name still occasionally pops up in my phone’s address book and I think about her. With gratitude. With awe. Wonder where she is now and who she’s helping. She was born to help.

Today, I went to a birthday party for my daughter’s friend.

And she was there.

She. Was. There.

I wanted to laugh and cry and rush up and hug her.

So many feelings overwhelmed me but the largest of all was thankfulness. I waited for her to finish a conversation and walked up. I told her who I was and how ten years ago she had helped to change my life. She asked if she could hug me and I held on tight.

For awhile.

She waited for me to let go first.

How do you convey how much someone has meant to you? How they may have been doing their job but they cared, and it completely changed your life? How do you say thank you for something like that?

She hugged me tight and I hugged her back. All of my love and gratitude was in that hug.

And then I stepped back to see tears in her eyes mirrored by my own. She thanked ME. For telling her. For letting her know she has made a difference. That what she does matters.

I am so thankful for the divine appointment of seeing her again today.

I’m still sitting here in awe of the goodness of God and the love that flowed from that woman into me at a time when I was most vulnerable and confused.

It was a good day, today.

If you get the chance to see someone or contact someone who has made a difference in your life, tell them. Tell them that what they do matters. That they are special. And loved. And remembered. Tell them what they did that impacted you.

There are people that live their lives pouring into others. Let’s make sure they know it counts. It means something. That they are changing lives.

Let’s pour some love back onto them.

Love to all my friends on this Happy Sunday!!