[Sundaycommunity] (no subject)

[Jean Leahy]

Dean, thank you for passing this on. I am now passing it on to others. Jean

On Fri, Nov 28, 2025 at 3:15 PM Mary MacMillan via Sundaycommunity <
sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:

> I totally agree with you Martha. Such a beautiful story by a very kind and
> thoughtful man.
> Many thanks
> Mary
>
> On Fri, Nov 28, 2025 at 2:59 PM Martha Crean via Sundaycommunity <
> sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
>
>> That is unbelievably beautiful
>> Thank you
>>
>> On Fri, Nov 28, 2025 at 2:21 PM Dean Riley via Sundaycommunity <
>> sundaycommunity at lists.integralshift.ca> wrote:
>>
>>> Friday afternoon greetings to all…
>>>
>>> I saw this item on Facebook this afternoon and was moved by the story. I
>>> thought I’d share it you all.
>>>
>>> Blessings…
>>>
>>> Dean.
>>>
>>> -::-::-::-
>>>
>>> "My name's Raymond. I'm 73. I work the parking lot at St. Joseph's
>>> Hospital. Minimum wage, orange vest, a whistle I barely use. Most people
>>> don't even look at me. I'm just the old man waving cars into spaces.
>>>
>>> But I see everything.
>>>
>>> Like the black sedan that circled the lot every morning at 6 a.m. for
>>> three weeks. Young man driving, grandmother in the passenger seat.
>>>
>>> Chemotherapy, I figured. He'd drop her at the entrance, then spend 20
>>> minutes hunting for parking, missing her appointments.
>>>
>>> One morning, I stopped him. "What time tomorrow?"
>>> "6:15," he said, confused.
>>> "Space A-7 will be empty. I'll save it."
>>> He blinked. "You... you can do that?"
>>> "I can now," I said.
>>>
>>> Next morning, I stood in A-7, holding my ground as cars circled angrily.
>>> When his sedan pulled up, I moved. He rolled down his window, speechless.
>>> "Why?"
>>> "Because she needs you in there with her," I said. "Not out here
>>> stressing."
>>>
>>> He cried. Right there in the parking lot.
>>>
>>> Word spread quietly. A father with a sick baby asked if I could help. A
>>> woman visiting her dying husband. I started arriving at 5 a.m., notebook in
>>> hand, tracking who needed what. Saved spots became sacred. People stopped
>>> honking. They waited. Because they knew someone else was fighting something
>>> bigger than traffic.
>>>
>>> But here's what changed everything, A businessman in a Mercedes screamed
>>> at me one morning. "I'm not sick! I need that spot for a meeting!"
>>>
>>> "Then walk," I said calmly. "That space is for someone whose hands are
>>> shaking too hard to grip a steering wheel."
>>>
>>> He sped off, furious. But a woman behind him got out of her car and
>>> hugged me. "My son has leukemia," she sobbed. "Thank you for seeing us."
>>>
>>> The hospital tried to stop me. "Liability issues," they said. But then
>>> families started writing letters. Dozens. "Raymond made the worst days
>>> bearable." "He gave us one less thing to break over."
>>>
>>> Last month, they made it official. "Reserved Parking for Families in
>>> Crisis." Ten spots, marked with blue signs. And they asked me to manage it.
>>>
>>> But the best part? A man I'd helped two years ago, his mother survived,
>>> came back. He's a carpenter. Built a small wooden box, mounted it by the
>>> reserved spaces. Inside? Prayer cards, tissues, breath mints, and a note,
>>>
>>> "Take what you need. You're not alone. -Raymond & Friends"
>>>
>>> People leave things now. Granola bars. Phone chargers. Yesterday,
>>> someone left a hand-knitted blanket.
>>>
>>> I'm 73. I direct traffic in a hospital parking lot. But I've learned
>>> this: Healing doesn't just happen in operating rooms. Sometimes it starts
>>> in a parking space. When someone says, "I see your crisis. Let me carry
>>> this one small piece."
>>>
>>> So pay attention. At the grocery checkout, the coffee line, wherever you
>>> are. Someone's drowning in the little things while fighting the big ones.
>>>
>>> Hold a door. Save a spot. Carry the weight no one else sees. It's not
>>> glamorous. But it's everything."
>>>
>>>
>>> …
>>> From Facebook:
>>> Astonishing
>>> By Mary Nelson________________________________________
>>>
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>>> ________________________________________
>>
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>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>
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>
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>
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