Thank You Paulie

As a parent, I think all you want is for your children to be happy. You do what you can, with what you have and when you can. You would you move mountains if you could..whatever it takes. But sometimes you fall short and the disappointment is almost more than you can bear. This feeling of disappointment was weighing heavily on my heart when I left home last Thursday morning. After declining the offer of a new home last year, my one and only regret was I wasn't going to meet the cast/design team of Extreme Makeover Home Edition EMHE for short. It's one of my favorite shows. Last week they came to Savannah to build a home for a local family. Bill and I volunteered to help and we were able to meet the design team...but my kids weren't. Madison was so upset with me. She cried on the way home. I felt like a complete failure. Thursday was the last day..my last chance to make it happen. Madison made a poster..an "I LOVE YOU PAULIE" poster to be exact. The kids and I are standing with all the other people who gathered to watch them "move that bus" ..while Bill is doing his best to get them a chance to meet the team. I was never really sure about fate or destiny..until now. Within a matter of minutes we were placed in a VIP spectator section. Still in shock over that...Madison has her poster..and who sees it? Paul DiMeo himself. He came over to her and she was so overwhelmed that she started to cry again. This kind hearted man took my daughter by the hand with my son following behind and gave them a personal tour of the home. When they came back, she was speechless. As if that tour wasn't enough he asked her to hold his camera! I don't think I've ever seen her glow like that. Her happiness was on the inside and it was showing on the outside.

My words can't convey what was and still is in my heart. How do you thank someone for going above the call for your child? For giving them a memory that you know they will cherish for a lifetime? EMHE gives people homes, they change lives. That day..the family getting the home weren't the only ones whose lives were being changed..my family was being changed as well. The bus moved and a wish was granted for the Simpson family..and with a hug from a kind hearted man my daughter's dream came true as well. Thank you Paulie....I'm forever grateful to you.