Thank You A Gazillion Times Over

thankyouThis whole week has been a lesson  in accepting help and gratitude.

On Wednesday The Great Bike Giveaway announced their winners of the over 100 adaptive bikes they were able to give away.  In just a week’s time Brian had recieved more than 700 votes.  I was determined I was going to manifest him winning a Buddy Bike.  Positive affirmations were pouring out of me.  I just knew he was going to win a bike.

I had a client during the time they were going to announce the winners but my coworkers were as anxious as me and told me they’d check and pop their head into the therapy room when they found out.

A few minutes in I got a shake of the head with a frown.  I looked at her confused, “What?  His name isn’t on there?”.  I really didn’t believe her.

An hour later I checked the website myself and I can’t lie, I hit the refresh button a few times as if that might change the final outcome.

I was sad.  That’s the price of believing in manifestations- you have a clear picture in your head of what is going to happen, that when it doesn’t happen you are left a bit shocked and saddened.

I went on to my facebook page and wrote a post congratulating all the winners.  I also warned all of my friends we would be entering again next year.

Instantly I had friends and family commenting on things we could do to still get Brian this adaptive bike (which by the way, costs more than some of my second-hand cars I’ve owned throughout my life).

By the end of the day a good friend and Brian’s babysitter had created a GoFundMe page.  At first I was kind of embarrassed.  I was no stranger to GoFundMe.  I had donated to friends battling cancer, friends who lost everything in a house fire, a child I know with severe health issues.  I didn’t want to take away from people who were in a real crisis point of their life.  

But the money started rolling in.  I couldn’t believe it- people I’ve never met, people I only know virtually, anonymous people, and people who know and love Brian.  People told me, quite frankly, to not be stupid and to swallow my pride.  Everyone knew Brian didn’t need the bike to save his health or because he was an underprivileged kid.  What they knew was they loved Brian, they wanted him to feel included as much as possible, that adaptive bikes are expensive, and they wanted us to be on the receiving end of the giving game for once (or so I’m told).

The gratitude doesn’t end there.

Today, I posted a picture of our GoFundMe page on my Instagram account.  Within five minutes we had a large donation placed.  It was from a man whom I have only known through his Instagram account- both of us having sons with autism.  I have made connections like this with at least 100 people over the years of blogging.  Parents with children with different needs tend to flock to social media to find other people who “get it”.

It turns out that Chris had done a GoFundMe fundraiser as well as taken 20 percent of his business sales to fund an autism service dog for his son, Matthew.  He was blessed and overwhelmed by the support he received.  Soon they were way over the money they needed.

So he decided to pay it forward.  The money that was leftover and the money that he continues to bring in with his unique line of autism jewelry he now donates to causes like Brian’s or Matthew’s.

When I saw the number jump so dramatically on our GoFundMe page I was utterly speechless.  I had to blink back tears.  I did that thing again where I refreshed the screen a few times to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.

He isn’t doing this for glory or fame but I would feel very ungrateful if I didn’t mention his etsy shop where you can buy jewelry and support some great causes!  Please check it out.

I’m done being proud and all that’s left is pure gratitude.  My family is incredibly blessed to be surrounded in our physical world as well as our virtual world with amazing people who go out of their way to help Brian.  I just feel as if no matter how much I say, “Thank you”, it will never truly convey what all of this means to us.

 

Heather Nelson

About Heather Nelson

Heather resides in Rockland where she is busy juggling life as a newlywed, a mom to two boys (one of which who has autism), a part time job in direct sales, and a full-time job as a pediatric occupational therapy assistant. She has a love for live music, karaoke, and cheering on the underdogs.