@EversourceCT I had an estimate of 6:00 am this morning. Then it went to : Eversource: There is a known outage at 39 SUGA. Est restoration is under assessment. Treat downed wires as live and dangerous. I’ve been driving around this area repeatedly and have yet to see anything being assessed.
@HenpeckedHal I’ll be 49 next week and back in the work from home beginning covid days I would watch/listen to Little House on the Prairie all day. I was shocked at some of the topics they covered in some episodes. Drug addiction, racism, bigotry in general. I think it’s why I’m so empathetic.
"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."
Let this story reach more hearts....
Credit: Mary Nelson
@CharlesDar81165@dragonfirerobin@ICEofTikTok Where did your kids go to school that they were taught to hate themselves as white kids? You sound like a MAGA cult member spouting off all their talking points. The school systems are not as bad as your mighty leader has led you to believe.
@CharlesDar81165@ICEofTikTok I want my children’s teachers to treat them as they were their own. We are putting our babies lives in their hands for 8 hours…so if the teacher wants to call my child one of her “innocent babies” then so be it. A caring teacher is a good thing.
@USNavy Just wanted you to be aware that one of your Navy men is out here wishing death upon innocent citizens. It is shocking to think we have people in our military who act this way. Here is his comment.
@LibertyLee33@LangmanVince To say she is talentless is ignorant. She writes all her own music. She is incredibly talented regardless of if you like her music or not.