Greetings!
One night in June of 2007, I sat down to write a letter to an exceptional young man who was about to get married in two days. I wanted to let him know how grateful I was of his help to our family.
He was a great blessing to our family during the challenging restaurant years. He was our son's high school classmate. He treated our sons as his brothers. He had friends of different ethnicity because he never judged people by how they looked. His loving parents allowed him to bring his friends into their home to hang out. They talked. They played video and card games. They were a group of teenagers who did not drink or smoke. Our family of four had only one car. Sometimes we could not leave the restaurant to pick up our sons when they were off from work. Our sons would call him, and he was always willing to help. I heard that this wonderful young man also volunteered to take care of pets when his friends and coworkers went on vacations.
He had asked both of our sons to be his groomsmen (one son as the best man). My husband and I were invited to his wedding too. Over the years, he was like a member of our family. Sometimes we invited him to celebrate Chinese holidays with us. Due to my quiet nature, I had not expressed how grateful I was of his help to our family.
So there I was, in the middle of the night, trying to write a letter to thank him. I was going to ask my sons to give him the letter during the wedding rehearsal. However, I just could not finish the letter because memories of the challenging years flooded my mind. Around 5 a.m., I decided I would finish the letter in the morning since the rehearsal would take place in the afternoon.
I woke up around 10 o'clock. I went to boil some water to make a cup of coffee. I sat down next to my husband who was reading by the dining table. At one point, I looked over to the stove. I was surprised I had turned the burner to the highest setting! I had never done that! I normally set it at medium or medium high. I thought it was alright. I would turn it off once the water was ready.
I made a cup of coffee and put it on the dining table. As I sat down, the cup tipped over. The hot, hot, hot coffee spilled onto the lower part of my body and the inner side of my right thigh. When I came to, I ran upstairs to the bathtub and turned on the cold water. I yelled for my husband to rush to a store and buy a bag of ice. (My husband later told me my cotton short had soaked up the whole cup of coffee since there was barely any coffee left on the floor. No doubt it hurt so much! Soaking with extremely hot coffee, the cotton short had stuck to my skin as I ran upstairs to the bathroom.)
My husband rushed home with the ice. I asked him to put the ice in small bags. I went back to the bedroom. I placed the ice over my right thigh and the most sensitive area that was hurting as if on fire. I waited hoping the ice would give me some relief from the pain. But it didn't. I went back to the bathtub and stood under the shower head with cold water running. Any time I stepped away from the cold water, the pain was unbearable. All the while, I could not believe what had happened for tomorrow was the wedding!
I did not know how long I stood under the cold water. I found myself shivering. I went back to the bedroom and put the ice on. My younger son called. My husband told him what had happened. Immediately, he and his fiancee wanted me to go to the hospital. After they hung up, my husband asked me what to do. I swayed my head. With no health insurance, I would not go to a hospital.
The pain was excruciating. I went to the bathtub again. However, my body was cold, and I could not stand the cold water anymore. When I turned the water to lightly warm, the burning sensation intensified. It was intolerable. I went back to the bedroom. My mind was still in disbelief of what had happened. Somehow the excruciating pain and disbelief occupied my mind, and I did not think of praying for help.
Two hours had gone by. The ice gave me no relief from the pain at all. Seeing the pain on my face, my husband asked: "What now?" I looked at him. Finally, I cried out: "I cannot take it anymore! It just hurts and hurts!" Right after I cried out, the bedroom door swung open. We felt a rush of air as if someone rushed in. My husband and I looked at the door with our mouths widely opened. My husband had made sure the door was closed because I had only a towel covering the middle part of my body. The next thing I knew was the pain was gone! I found myself enveloped in a field of peaceful energy. I knew everything was going to be alright.
Later, my son and his fiancee arrived. Our soon ** to be daughter-in-law got some cream for burns from her aunt who worked in a hospital. (** Their wedding day was set for the following month. Click to view The sun will shine and the wind will calm down ) My son insisted that I let his fiancee look at the scalded part of my body. With only her and me in the bedroom, I looked at the scalded area for the first time. That part of my body was red like cooked meat and covered with blisters. The inner right thigh was scalded all the way down to a few inches above the knee. Some blisters were big! It looked terrible. She immediately said I needed to go to a hospital or at least see a doctor. I assured them I was not in pain. I promised I would put the cream on. They did not believe that I was not in pain, but they knew they could not change my mind.
After they left, I put the cream on as I promised. I went about the day as usual. I did not write the letter anymore because my sons had already gone to the wedding rehearsal. I was at peace. In my heart, I kept thanking the Divine.
Later in the afternoon, the door bell rang. I was nicely surprised that the groom-to-be was at the door with our older son. He told me he had heard what happened. So he came to see how I was doing. Instead of writing a letter, God had given me a chance to tell him personally how grateful I was of his presence and what a wonderful being he was. When I finished talking, our eyes were filled with tears.
That night, I went to bed with a heart full of gratitude and the love of God. I repeated my vow which I had made years ago that I would commit to the Will of God. I asked to be an instrument wherever I am. Soon I fell into a peaceful sleep. What I did not know was - I would be an instrument of healing on the wedding day.
Love and blessings,
Q of D
Click to view story 2 - The Healing in the Washroom
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