I was having a stretch of dizzy spells and actually fell in our bathroom. The fall left an abrasion on my cheek. One of my summer duties is chauffeuring grandchildren and they saw the scrape on my face. Wanting to know what happened, I explained that I’d been having some dizziness and fell.  The first words out of my grandson’s mouth, “I’m going to hit a home run for you tonight.”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling great so wasn’t able to attend his baseball game. Excitedly, he called me after the game to explain that he not only hit a home run, he hit a grand slam homerun. I told him that was amazing. A few days later, I told my grandson that I still can’t believe he hit a grand slam for me. “Me either,” he said.

There have been amazing things in my life.

I’ve been married to the same person for 44 years. How she has put up with me for over four decades is amazing to me. We have two sons that have grown into decent human beings and they are with partners who are even more amazing.

I shake my head when I think of our Haiti ministry. I stand in amazement when I see our school, two clinics, a Women’s Village with 64 homes, feeding programs, and other things that we do. I’m excited that we now have an amazing part-time director to move us forward. It happened because we have a throng of amazing donors who want to see people on LaGonave have a better life.

While I wouldn’t choose to have my health issues, treatments exist today that didn’t exist ten and for sure twenty years ago. I’m alive because of amazing advancements in treatment for multiple myeloma.

We are involved in the lives of our grandchildren. I know that some don’t have access due to distance or relationship, but being close to our grandkids is an amazing gift.

When my mom was declining, we started a family Zoom call twice a month. After mom died, we went to once a month, but I’ve talked to my siblings and dad more this past couple of years than since we were kids. We’ve grown closer as a family and amazing technology has made that possible.

I’m grateful that I am able to write to express and hopefully engage others. My fourth book (on hope) will be coming out this summer, alongside a storybook fable for adults. I’ve had amazing editors who make me sound smarter and more polished than I really am, but writing is a helpful outlet for me. I also love donating the book profits to Haiti Alive.

I could talk about my near-death experiences and other close calls, but suffice to say that amazing things have been deeply embedded in my life. I’ve hit more grand slams than I deserve.