31 for 21 - Day 5: kindness of others

When Aidan was born, we lived in Winnipeg with no family close by. Our neighbours were great and automatically stepped up with offers to help.

One neighbour in particular holds a special place in all of our hearts. Her name is Sandra, and she was beyond amazing and wonderful to Aidan. When Sandra heard of Aidan's heart condition she offered to come and sit with him while I walked the boys to and from school. Kieran was in morning kindergarten, and Liam was in afternoon nursery school. In the dead of winter, Sandra would bundle up and come over so that I wouldn't have to take Aidan out in the cold. She always smiled. She would call out, "where's my little boyfriend?" She delighted in holding him in the rocking chair. She did this four times a day whenever she could. When Sandra would have to be away for work, she always gave me advance notice. On those days, Aidan would be under my jacket in a snuggly. He was so tiny!

My favourite memory was when Liam showed up with just a Darth Vader mask on, and nothing else. He stood there starkers and she just laughed.

Sandra was magnificent to us - a truly good and genuine person with a great passion for life.

While we have awesome neighbours in our new Province, we dearly miss Sandra and her wonderful laugh. Everyone should experience a neighbour like Sandra - at least once in a lifetime!