I’ve really been itching to tell you all about a riveting good news story that a nice fellow called to alert me of about a month ago, but I’ve been struggling with how to tell it without invading the privacy of everyone involved. I’ll do my best here, but I do feel like it won’t be as cool of a story as it could have been had I not felt obligated to suppress a bunch of details…
“When she told me the story my mouth dropped open,” the caller told me. “The guy is alive because of her!”
Good story right? I wish I could tell you more.
OK, I will. But only a little.
A man had a potentially life-threatening medical emergency as he was getting his hair cut and the woman cutting his hair did everything she could to help him.
He ended up surviving.
“The fellow’s wife sent her the biggest bouquet of flowers she’s ever seen,” said the caller.
I know more details but I’m afraid I can’t share them with you. Aren’t I cruel? What’s that saying? It’s better to have loved a little bit of happy news than to never have loved it at all? Something like that…
I did telephone the woman credited with saving the patient’s life but she was really hesitant to talk to me about it — mainly because she wanted to protect the privacy of her client but also because she’s not too much of a braggart.
She was, in fact, quite stunned that I had heard her story and not only wanted to talk to her about it but wanted to tell the world about it, too. Or at least the Cowichan Valley anyway.
But, just like I tell my kids when they don’t get the colour popsicle they were hoping for, “you get what you get and you don’t get upset.” I don’t know where I heard that saying but I know I didn’t coin it.
In that spirit, please enjoy this list of other sparsely-detailed good news stories from around the Cowichan Valley that I know not too much about.
I do believe that sometimes just a little bit of good news is better than none at all. And besides, small things add up. If you crack just a quarter of a smile with every one of these, by the end of it you should have a full-on grin.
Brace your face. Here we go:
• A very nice young man shoveled the driveway of a woman somewhere in this region after the snow fell on Monday. She was grateful. (I’m sure there are many similar stories but that’s just one I know about.)
• A cat that went missing before Christmas has been reunited with his family after being found roughly 14 kilometres away in a whole other community. (I might dig into this one a little more and get back to you.)
• There’s a bit of a challenge going on in the Valley and it doesn’t involve eating soap or dumping ice water on your head. An area woman is challenging folks to go for a “Garbage Walk” in their neighbourhood and then to post a photo of their haul on Facebook.
• A woman’s ewe was in labour and the lamb was in the breech position. Attempts to turn it around were not successful. The woman needed some speedy advice because she wasn’t sure when the veterinarian would arrive and the situation was unfolding quickly so, she put it out there on Facebook. She got a host of responses and in the end a healthy 14-pound lamb was born just as the vet arrived.
sarah.simpson@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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