I got the following email last night, which just blew my mind and broke my heart. While J n' I remind ourselves every. single. day. of how truly lucky we are to be living our dreams (more or less...), this was just one of those harsh reminders that really opened our eyes to how good we really have it.

(Obviously names and such have been changed...)

"Hi everyone,

I’m trying to help out my neighbours, W and P. For those who haven’t heard the story, here is the abridged version (as I know it). W has a sister, H. She and her husband, T have 4 children. When the youngest was 18 mos old, she had a stroke. She is now on a blood thinner type drug that is helping, but unfortunately isn’t covered by medical so is costing the family $500/week. They have yet to diagnose her with anything. Just after the baby’s stroke, H was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. Her husband T has since lost his job.

W and P have moved the whole family from TheirCity to OurCity to live with them so that they can help. As I’m writing this, H is in hospital having contracted H1N1 and her 3 year old was also in for a couple days for the same. Obviously the stress on this family is enormous. So, this is why I’m writing. As there is not a lot we can do, we can at least help feed them. W has told me that she has a deep freeze and that she would be more than ok with accepting food into it so she doesn’t have to cook. I’m hoping everyone can make a casserole type thing or something that can freeze in a throwaway pan so that there is one small thing that W doesn’t have to worry about. I know everyone is super busy but anything would be awesome. W says there are no allergies to be concerned with and she says she has been really clear that everyone eats what is cooked so the pickiness is gone. :) There are 10 people in the house – 4 adults, 6 children (4 of whom are under 5).

You can either bring it to me at Address, or if you know W and want to drop it off, do that. Or if you have something you want me to come pick up, let me know either by email or by phone. A lot of you are waaaaay better connected in ThisCity than I am, so if you know anyone else who might want to help, please forward this! I’d love to see her freezer full. Oh, also, something OTHER than lasagna would be fabulous as I think that would be the thing we all think of first. I suppose you can only eat so much pasta…

Thanks guys! Hoping you can help!!!

L"

I mean... wow. Can you imagine? What a massive burden for one family to bear! Just when a family thinks things can't get any worse, they get hit again and again and again.

I think my friend L's idea to gather food is simply brilliant. I've never met these people, but my heart really goes out to them, and so I'm planning on cooking up a bunch of food once we return from granny-sitting this weekend.

Also, even though our money is crazy tight right now, (in fact, friends n' family will be lucky to get anything for Christmas this year, unless our producers give us an advance on our next installment of funding, which they have very kindly offered to do if we ever find ourselves flat broke... which might be the case in just a few short weeks), we've decided to pass along whatever we can afford for the time-being anyway. Hopefully our little donation will help them out with grocery shopping, or maybe they can even treat themselves to take-out one night or something. I'm sure special treats are few and far between, as it sounds like P is supporting both families on his income alone. When you put it into perspective, it's a very small sacrifice on our part to stretch our budget for a few weeks. At least we have our health and a pay cheque on the horizon...

Gawd, I can't even imagine the stress that poor family must feel.

Count your blessings.