our christmas jar story

3 years ago - the first year we were married, we had a Christmas miracle happen. No really.

December, 2007. I had just begun to stabilize from the aforementioned breakdown that occured right after we got married. Benj's back was jacked up. We think he hurt in in football in highschool, and then it just got worse with all the biking and exercise on the mish. Anyway, by the middle of December, he was completely bed-ridden. I had quit work (and school, and cleaning, and cooking, and everything) and he was obviously unable to work. His job was PRN anyway, sooooo we were pretty much broke. At some point earlier, he had and MRI and it was determined that he had a ruptured disc along with 2 bulging discs. Something was hitting a nerve because he was losing feeling in his leg. And if anyone has tried, you can't just make a quick appointment with a neurosurgeon, so, we were kind of stuck. They were booked out until like March. At this point, I had re-located to an air mattress on the floor because any movement on the bed hurt. I was bringing cups for him to pee in because he couldn't stand. Luckily, I had some connections working at a Dr. Office, and so did Benj's mom, so we finally got an appointment for the 17th (Stay with me, I'm going somewhere with this,). Let me just insert here that he isn't a whimpy guy by any means. He has a pretty good pain tolerance.

The night of the 16th: We get a knock on the door. I'm not real thrilled about visitors, especially in our ghetto apartment, so I was a little late in answering. I opened the door and there was a jar, full of money and the book "The Christmas Jar". We were so excited. It looked like maybe $100 or so. We were super happy! We both sat down (well, he was already down....) and started counting. $100, $200, $500, $1000, $1500, $2000....... $2,100!!!!! WTH? No note, nothing. We had no idea who it was from. For us, that was a crazy large sum of money! We felt all warm and Christmassy and went to sleep smiling that night.

After some work (he is 6'2" 300 lbs and can't really walk), we got him to the office, I got him into the elevator and out of it and he pretty much collapsed in front of the door of the Neurosurgeon Office Suite. Akwakrdly, I told him to lay there and wait (like he was going to run off....) and I went in and asked for a stretcher or two large men or something to help me get him into the freaking exam room. We got him in finally, the doc took one look at his x-ray and said he needed surgery, like now. He pretty much cleared his schedule and said meet me at the hospital in an hour. Don't eat.

Wow. Ok, that was good, but wait, we have no insurance. Neurosurgery isn't a cheap little ho-hum thing. I went in and talked to the Business Office about payments. In order to do the surgery, we had to have $2000 down and we could set up payments for the rest. The Hospital required $100 down. Hmmmm.............. Ok, we have exactly $2100 in a jar in the car!!!! (rhyme!)

Anyway, everything went really well after that. Isn't that wierd/cool/humbling? It was hard-ish getting him there, we had to lay him on the floor at the hospital while nurses came out and took blood, urine, blah. He stood up for like 30 seconds to get weight height and BP = don't worry his BP was like 197/260. He was in so much pain. It was kind of scary. But the surgery went really well (and really long). I kept hovering around the OR, calling the nurse, etc. He's fantastic now and fit as a race horse. His right leg is still numb in one spot, which is amusing cause I can pull the hairs out and he doesn't care.

Isn't that a cute story?

Last year, my parents gave all of us kids our own Christmas Jars (full of money) with instructions to re-fill it over the coming year and then we will all put it together next Christmas and donate it to the American Cancer Society (in honor of Terris) or to a needy family. We had a pretty rough year this year money wise (BABY) and really didn't get it filled so I feel bad. Next year.

We still don't know who it was. If you know who it was or it was you, THANK YOU. Really. Merry freaking Christmas.

P.S. This:

pisses me off inside, so deeply, I cannot even explain. Ruins my day. Driving home tonight, thinking of the nice Christmas Jar story, and I see this. HATE.