On late Friday afternoon, this angel, very cleverly disguised as my nephew, Shane, pulled into my driveway after a 5-hour drive from Camp Lajuene, NC. This 20-year-old Marine had driven all the way up here to see if he could help me with things that I was unable to do. Can you believe that!

How in the world did he guess that that I had not packed up all the Christmas clutter...the decorations, the wrapping paper, the plastic bin of ribbon waiting to be made into bows, the bin of bows that I had already made, etc., etc. I had not gotten these bins taken back out to the storage shed before I fell in early January.

There were bins of projects that I was working on, and projects that had been completed. It's amazing just how many storage bins one can fit into one small house...bins that belonged stored in the shed. They cluttered up my house and I couldn't do a single bloomin' about it.

I felt claustrophobic with the lack of available space in which to maneuver. Added to the collection of plastic storage bins was the medical supply equipment that either came home with me from the hospital or had been loaned to me by friends. Now add to all that the large cartons in which the equipment arrived.

That gives you a picture of what I mean about a cluttered environment. Only the kitchen was free of these space grabbing bins and other odds and ends. And just how many times can one walk around a kitchen for exercise? Now you can understand my claustrophobic feelings.

It took Shane less than two hours to tote all of the clutter out to the shed. I went out with him and pointed out the appropriate parking space for each of the bins. You cannot imagine the sense of freedom I felt when I looked around and walked around my newly created clutter-free house. Shane can probably tell you that I was pretty close to ecstatic!

He continued on tirelessly with all manner of activities...rearranging some furniture for increased safety for me, helping me to organize my "gift" closet so the I actually can find things. Later in the day, he provided me with some badly needed computer assistance. He adjusted the contrast and the size of certain text so that now I can read almost everything. He set me up with on-line banking and was willing to teach me how to pay bills on-line, but by then my brain was fatigued. He introduced me to Pandora music station which absolutely thrills me! I can sit here and listen to any type of music I choose.

On Sunday, Shane grabbed a small bow saw, a hatchet and some loppers and together we walked the perimeter of my little acre. I pointed out branches that that interfered with easy mowing, and down they came. He cut honeysuckle vines and small locust saplings. He picked up multiple large branches that the fierce winds broke off the trees, and tossed them into the woods.

Much later....

This is taking far too long...it will be the middle of next week before I can tell you all of the things that Shane did for me while he was here. My gutters are clean, the branches are off the carport roof, the back yard is free of leaves (that required six tarp loads of leaf hauling), the side yard leaves have been mulched, both porches are clear of unnecessary stuff, another tall porch chair has come from the shed to accompany the table and other chair, and on and on.

What an absolute godsend this nephew was and is! Probably I didn't even need to fall and injure the hip and shoulder for him to drive up and offer me his help. I continue to be extraordinarily fortunate. And I am truly grateful to this special lad for his thoughtful and generous

Help. He is a darling!