A Return From Certain Death

“I showed up at my daughter’s door and asked if I could stay.”

Janet Kirk

A Return from Certain Death

I was standing at a kitchen counter with my friend Janet Kirk just finishing up some documents.  She was talking with me, her eyes sparkling.  I had been there the day before too.  That’s when I had the chance to see her brother Tom again.  These two sequential meetings caused me to remember and stand in amazement.

I met Tom about one year ago.  He and his brother came to my office to ask for my help for their sister.  Our first meeting went well so they brought their sister in to meet me.  She was worn and feeble.   The two brothers had to help her with every step.  She couldn’t stand on her own.

Now she was standing on her own.  Her face is bright.  She is painting beautiful pictures again.

We left the kitchen. Janet took me to her painting studio to show me some of the work she was doing.  I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was!  I couldn’t believe how beautiful she was.  She had traveled from death’s door to living abundantly within one short year!  Now she is a vibrant woman in her eighties.

Her vibrancy is a direct result of her daughter.  Janet told me how she escaped a life that was killing her by calling her brother to come and pick her up so she could remove herself from an abusive situation.  Once removed, she literally showed up at her daughter’s front door, rang the doorbell, and said, “Can I stay with you for a while?”

Her daughter could hardly recognize her and was in such shock at Janet’s condition that she could hardly speak.  She was having health problems of her own and didn’t know how she could care for her aged, ailing mother, but immediately responded with a resounding yes!

So, the two of them have been infusing life into each other for these many months.  They share the same sparkling eyes as they laugh.  They have a similar spunk!  The two of them have beaten back death so they could take care of each other.  They are standing tall and walking forward.

It’s time for me to go so I start walking toward Janet’s front door. 

“Stop!” She says.  So I stop!

“I want to show you how I walk down the stairs now!”

Janet steps down with one leg and then keeps going, one foot per tread, to the bottom.

“I’m getting better,” she chortled. “I still work to keep my balance, but I couldn’t do it a few months ago.  Remember?”

“I remember!” I replied.

I remember.  I thought to myself.  I’ll always remember that one woman took in another at a time when she didn’t have the health or the strength to do so.  I’ll remember that people can accomplish amazing things when motivated by love.  They can even return from certain death.