Stephanie

Ohio University Alumna - Retired D1 athlete †

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

Has everyone noticed that prices haven’t gone up but the size of food items has significantly decreased

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

ODOT must be short staffed because these roads are embarrassing

[Barstool Sports @barstoolsports]

Every Dad watching the Olympics found a new dream job

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

Update- it’s not comfy 😂

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

Should I buy this?

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

@AEPOhio @ColumbiaGasOhio you inflating your rates to asinine amounts is disgusting and you should be ashamed of your business model

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

The roads used to be cleared so much better back in the day

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

"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

[Kurt Benkert @KurtBenkert]

Somebody call an ambulance

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

This is the kind of Ohio weather that makes you want to move to Florida

[Nash Henry @NashJagsNats22]

Trevor Lawrence's game winning touchdown set to Chumbawamba's Tubthumping is perfection.

[wheels @ItsWheels11]

trevor lawrence before deciding to score a game winning touchdown

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

@ColumbusGov why do you have the sprinklers running off Polaris when there is a downpour of rain, talk about wasting water

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

@ODOT_Statewide @GovMikeDeWine Maybe you should get off twitter and help them

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

@ODOT_Statewide @GovMikeDeWine I drove 40 minutes on 3 different highways in central Ohio and saw 0 so ???

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

I miss in college when all your friends lived within a 20 minute walk

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

Facebook is truly listening to our phone because it stops my Spotify everytime I open the app 😂

[Ohio Football @OhioFootball]

THE OHIO BOBCATS ARE StaffDNA CURE BOWL CHAMPIONS!

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

OU bobcats baby!!!

[Ohio Football @OhioFootball]

THE OHIO BOBCATS ARE THE MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS!

#OUohyeah

[Stephanie @stephaniiielynn]

OU bobcats baby!!!