The Ordinary People Project: Part 2
More giants among us!
Part two of YOUR stories. The stories herein aren’t something you’ll find while reading a list of “on this day in history” events or people. Instead, they are “just” ordinary people, with ordinary stories, that add up to an extraordinary legacy.
“I keep going for him.”
My grandfather as since passed away, however his legacy in the town he lived in is still going strong.
Michael was know to be a friend to everyone, he helped begin a town action team to help during natural disasters and parades to help with small police force. He created a lending closet of medical supplies for those in need completely free. Things such as walkers, lifts, camodes, etc things can be expensive and hard for some people to get even if they really need them.
He would drop everything to help those in the community, those who needed it. He was the best story teller to us grandkids and taught us all about gardening.
The biggest thing for me was his faith. He is one of the most faithful men I know. He would always bet at Mass no matter what. He would bring me to the stations of the cross during lent and other Holy Days of Obligation. He helped lead his family and seeing how important the faith was to him made me want to know more.
He and my grandma were married for over 55yrs before he passed away. Their marriage was one I looked up to, I learned so much from them about authentic friendship and love, the real hard love. When he cared for my grandma after her knee replacement. We watched my grandfather die for 3yrs. I remember seeing how hard it was on my grandma, she looked at me and said "this is hard, really hard, but what else am I going to do. I keep going for him.” Michael was an amazing man and I'm blessed to call him my grandfather.
Just One Positive Light
My family lives in an apartment complex and a woman moved in below us a few months ago.
Ever since she arrived, everyone in our unit is more friendly and says hi to each other. She is recently divorced, thus the move to the apartment. She always offers to dog sit, or help out in any way. She loves the holidays so much and for Halloween and Christmas she has been giving our neighbors some of her decorations so they can put them on their door/outside the complex.
It’s wonderful to see just what one positive light can do for the community!
10 PM Pie Baking
My grandparents were such an amazing example of living the faith. They lived a quiet, simple life.
They had 9 children and very little money yet all of my aunts and uncles speak so fondly of their childhood. Despite financial struggles my grandparents never hesitated to feed whoever came through their door.
My grandma did her nightly prayers in Polish until the day she died at the age of 95. For the last year of her life I would spend the night with her on Friday nights and it never failed that she would want to bake a pie at 10:00pm. I’d be falling asleep as we were baking and she would be having the time of her life.
My grandpa told me how important the Catholic faith was and how it was what got him through hard times. They both wanted all of their grandchildren to get married and have all of the babies.
I’ll never forget how my grandma was in the hospital and the staff called us in to tell her goodbye because her organs were shutting down. We flooded the hospital - her 9 children and their spouses, all of their kids (my 35 first cousins), and all of their children. My cousins brought in their toddlers and babies and my grandma instantly perked up. We watched as her vitals miraculously stabilized. That’s how much my grandma loved children. She went on to live another few months.
More Than I Bargained For at Dollar Tree
I was in the Dollar Tree of all places buying some things for my son’s school Christmas party and I had my youngest 6-week-old daughter with me.
After I went through the checkout and got to my car I noticed I had mixed something up and would need to go back into the store to fix it. I pulled the stroller out of the car and locked the car seat in and headed back into the store feeling tired and ready to be home.
As I was walking in a woman walked out and held the door for me. I thanked her and she mentioned she just had a grandson and it’s such a precious time. I told her how our daughter was a gift from God and we were so thankful she was here with us. Upon revealing this the woman said, “Well now that you’ve mentioned God I just have to tell you something.” I don’t typically bring God into my conversations so I wasn’t sure how this would go. She approaches me and says she has sons who are now grown and one thing she consistently did that she wholeheartedly believed blessed their lives and her family was daily prayer over them. She said on the way to school every morning she would pray over them out loud for God to watch over them and cover them with his protection and loving hand throughout the day. She did this daily with her children on the way to school until they left the house.
She encouraged me to pray over my children daily for peace, protection, and God’s loving hand in their daily encounters with others and that it was her greatest piece of advice to mothers. She was so inspiring and instead of leaving the store drained I felt hopeful and filled with the spirit in the middle of the Dollar Tree checkout.
This woman seized the moment to inspire and mentor a young mom like myself who was tired after a long day. I could clearly tell she was an ardent believer and put her heart and soul into everything she did. This brief interaction gave me hope and challenged me to find ways to bless others in small daily interactions by talking about how the Lord and his blessings like she did with me. Now it’s something I strive to do and hope that by bringing God into the conversation with others it may plant a seed for others to do the same.
While this wasn’t a story of monumental change, I so appreciated this interaction with a random stranger to talk about his great God is and how he blesses us daily when we call him into our lives.
Thank you as always for sending these stories. They give so much hope and encouragement! Please keep sending them to accordingtobridget@gmail.com.