You Never Know Who's Thinking About You

Last Sunday after Sunday School a lady in my ward talked to Chris and I for just a bit. She said she was so happy to see us. Briefly asked us how Aili was doing and asked if she could come by our house sometime to talk to us. She kept saying I know this is really weird so if you don't want me to come over its okay but I just wanted to talk to you guys. We planned for her to come on Tuesday after Chris came home from work.

I had talked to this lady a couple of times at church, but didn't know her that well. The first time I talked to her she told me I was so pretty and that I reminded her of her daughter-in-law. Since we didn't know her very well Chris and I left wondering what she wanted to come talk to us about.

So on Tuesday she came over. We were still very curious about what she wanted to talk about. When she came in she kept saying, "Sorry, you probably think I'm so weird." Then she went on to tell us why she wanted to talk to us....

She had reminded my that I reminded her so much of her daughter-in-law. She told us that she looked forward to seeing us every Sunday, because it made her think of her son and daughter-in-law. She said it just made her so happy to see us because her son and daughter-in-law live on the east coast so she doesn't get to see them very often.

When we had Aili we didn't go to church for almost 6 months. I figured no one really noticed. There are a lot of people in our ward. People move in and out all the time. There are lots of people having babies....so I figured no one really noticed that we were gone. But this lady noticed. She said she kept asking her husband if he saw us at church at all, and he would say no. Then she said that she was talking to someone and they mentioned that I had had the baby and asked her if she knew what happened. She said, "No, what happened!?" They preceded to tell her that there was something wrong with her heart when she was born.....

Rewind a few months.

Chris and I gave talks for the first time in our ward when I was about 4 months pregnant. So I introduced our family and said that we were expecting a baby at the end of January, and I had mentioned that I was nervous/scared about having a baby.

She remembered that I had said that I was nervous. So when she heard that there was something wrong with the baby she said she thought, "No, she was already nervous!" and she just felt so bad and was so worried. She continued to not see us at church and told us that she thought that we had maybe moved. She didn't know how Aili was doing and she thought maybe there were bad memories and too much going on so we moved.

She had been out of town for a few weeks for family stuff and again had asked her husband about us and he said, "Ya I saw them, they were at church!" She said, "Really?! They were? Did they have a baby?" He told her yes. Then she asked if the baby looked normal and healthy. He told her that she did.

So then she saw us at church and she said she was so happy to see us and the baby!

She then told us about how her youngest daughter was born very sick. She was in the hospital for quite a while and they couldn't figure our what was wrong with her. They final let her take her home basically to let them have time with her before she died. She said she started to get really bad at home so she took her back to the hospital. Her doctor was out of town and after another doctor kept giving the baby medication that she didn't want her baby having, she said she basically kidnapped her own child out of the hospital to take her to another doctor. This new doctor did a test on the baby to test for something very rare and come to find out she had a heart defect where her pulmonary artery was wrapped around her esophagus so as she grew she was basically being suffocated. As soon as they knew that she was taken to Primary Children's to get surgery. She was smaller than they wanted her to be but they couldn't wait any longer. The doctors told them that there are very few babies that have this surgery go successfully. Lucky for them it was successful.

I showed her pictures of Aili before surgery with her oxygen and after surgery. We chatted a little more about Aili and her children.

She apologized for staying so long and again said we probably thought she was so weird for coming over but that she basically just wanted to let us know that she was thinking about us. She wanted us to know that there was someone thinking about us, worried about us, hoping that we were okay. I told her thank you, and that it wasn't weird. I understood. She had a certain compassion for us that not everyone could have, because she had been through a similar experience.

I thought it was so sweet that she was so concerned about us, that she felt such a connection with us., She thought about us at least every Sunday when she looked for us and we were not there. She didn't even know us that well. It just got me thinking that there is probably someone always thinking about you; always concerned about you. You may know them, you may not know them. You may talk to them everyday or maybe only have spoken to them once or twice....maybe not even at all.  But there is always someone thinking about you, praying for you, missing you, and wishing the best for you.

Cute Aili at church: