Timing is everything

I don’t know about you, but we’ve been doing some major spring cleaning since shelter in place was announced in March. Sometimes we’ll tackle a closet or a drawer and one weekend we decided to go big and clean the garage.

One of the many items that needed a new home was my daughter’s old bike. It was still in good shape, but she had grown out of it so it was time to pass it on. My husband took a few photos and I promised to find a good home for the bike. But he forgot to send the pictures to me and I forgot to start asking around.

So weeks and weeks went by. And the bike sat silently in our garage just waiting patiently.

Finally I remembered and asked my husband to send me the photos, which he did. I reached out to my dear friend to whom we gave our daughter’s last bike; it seemed like the perfect place to start. And it certainly was!

Here’s the text she sent:

Oh my goodness Vik -thank you! We have a friend’s daughter in need of a bike so I would gladly take this to make sure it gets to the family. The girl is my daughter’s age and lost her Dad about a month ago to COVID. We’re close friends with the mom and she was just looking for a bike for her daughter. Such great timing! This is such a blessing!

My heart exploded with joy. I just thought we were giving away a bike, but it became so much more important than that. I felt really grateful that both me and my husband had forgotten about the bike. Had we remembered and offered it earlier, it would have been passed up because the family was grieving and tucked into their home by county orders.

Our forgetfulness became a blessing and the timing was just meant to be. I’m always so appreciative when things work out — sometimes you see it right away and other times you may never know.

My friend said the bike was a big step into the world for this little girl. The family had hunkered down for months barely leaving the house, but the mom realized that something had to change and they needed to ease back into the world. Her older brothers had bikes but she didn’t … until now.

My friend said this mom was “just over the moon excited and appreciative” and that she cried and cried happy tears when she got the bike, which she gave to her daughter as a surprise the next day.

So our little bike went from loneliness to love in one fell swoop. It was such a good reminder that even when the world feels like it’s gone mad, there are always moments of happiness and hope.

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.