Dear Non-Reply Blog Commenter,

Dear Non-Reply Blog Commenter, 

I just wanted to thank you for the sweet comment that you left on my recent post. I always love getting comments from people and always appreciate it when people stop by my blog. It seriously makes my day to read all the positive feedback that I get on my latest projects.

 

Whenever someone leaves me a comment I get an e-mail notifying me, and I try to reply with a short e-mail letting that person know that I appreciate the comment. But when you are a non-reply commenter, I'm not able to send that short e-mail. I hope you know that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the lovely comments that I've gotten from you. It just means that I'm not able to respond in the easiest way for me. 

I hope you're having a wonderful day, 

Bethany

 Speaking of strangers... 

Today was a beautiful day, and being that it was a beautiful day which are so few and far between this spring in Oregon, it was so hard to take Amazing Boyfriend up to Portland for a routine procedure that he hates almost as much as he hates chemo. I won't gross you all out with the details, but he really hates having it done, although he feels SO much better when it's over. 

Anyway, we made it up to Portland in good time, was able to find a parking spot at the VA hospital parking right away (a pleasant surprise) and checked in a little early. While we were in the waiting room, a nice gentleman who was sitting next to us, proudly wearing a US Marine Veteran hat, asked ABF if he minded if he gave me a rose. He told us that it'd been given to him as a thank you for his service. ABF told him he didn't mind and of course I thanked him for the pretty pink rose. This random act of kindness totally made my day!!

After that nice gentleman left, I overheard two ladies talking about the beautiful roses that each of them had. They had been given to the gentlemen that they were waiting for, thanking them for their service. Apparently, a few of the Portland Rose Festival Princesses had spent the afternoon in the cafeteria at the VA hospital, handing out roses and thanking Veterans for their service. 

I want to give those wonderful girls kuddos because so often I feel like Veterans are ignored or overlooked. Every time I visit the VA hospital, I'm reminded of the price of our freedom. It's nice when others are conscience of that price as well. 

"The Price of Freedom Can Be Seen Here"

Today was a chemo day so this isn't a project post. Just a post about my day. 

I know I've mentioned several times that Amazing Boyfriend has cancer. What I might now have mentioned is that he's receiving his chemotherapy treatment at the Veteran's Hospital in Portland, Oregon. We feel so blessed that this is happening since when we first found out that he had cancer, he didn't have health insurance. 

Then we found out that because he served four years active duty in the US Coast Guard that he qualified for medical benefits. 

 

Every time we got to the hospital, I see this quote over a doorway that you see when you walk from the parking garage to the elevators to go to the lobby. 

"The price of freedom can be seen here." 

Never has another statement been more true about the VA Hospital. There is definitely a sense of camaraderie between all the patients and even some of the staff, who will tell you when and where they served, maybe a story or two. You will always have at least one person, if not more, strike up a conversation with you while you're in the waiting room (because you do a LOT of waiting while you are there for one thing or another). You hear grandparents or parents talking about their children or grandchildren who have joined the service with pride. You also hear veteran's swapping war stories from time to time. When people find out what you're there for, they always say good luck and God bless, which is so kind.

.So today was a chemo day, which always sucks because Amazing Boyfriend's treatments are already really long, but add in doctors appointments that have to be done before treatment, as well as a heavy patient load and understaffed chemo unit and there is a lot of waiting. ABF always gets really nauseous from his treatments and it's not uncommon for him to make a few trips to the bathroom before we leave for the day. 

In other words, chemo days are not my favorite. 

But I did something today that made me feel really good. Even now, thinking about it makes me smile. 

At one point of the day, I went down to the pharmacy to drop off a prescription to be filled. The pharmacy is always backed up, so I figured I'd drop it off, get a scone from the coffee stand in the lobby and head back up to the chemo unit. 

So I ordered my scone, and while I'm waiting for the girl to put it in a bag and ring me up, I see an older gentlemen with a walker come up to the glass bakery case and very politely ask another girl who was working what the best pastry was. His demeanor was so polite that it made me smile. The girl who was helping me, gave me back my change, and when she saw me pause as I was putting it back in my wallet asked me if she could get me anything else. I gave her a five dollar bill and told her that I was buying whatever the gentlemen wanted, indicating the gentlemen with the walker, and for her to keep the change. I gave the gentlemen a smile and was walking away when the girl at the register told him his pastry was taken care of. I heard him ask who had done something so nice just before I turned the corner and got onto the elevator. 

On the ride up, I couldn't stop smiling. I know that it's a silly little gesture, but it made me feel really good on a day where I generally end up feeling really crappy. Not only that, but knowing that I did something nice for a veteran, who served our country, makes it just that much better. 

I'm a really big supporter of our troops. I might not agree with the wars that they are sent to fight, but regardless, these men and women deserve our respect for fighting for our freedom.

 Have you thanked a veteran lately?