Not the kind of paybacks you might think.
I rarely discuss my younger years. The short version is that while I grew up hunting and fishing, I did have some rough years. The early years were very rough with a mentally ill, physically abusive and alcoholic mom. Eventually the parents split up. I won't bore you with the details, but these days the stories of what people go to counseling for make me laugh. Most don't know what abuse is, or a real beating is.
My aunt, who is my mother's sister, came to the rescue and actually came and took me out of the situation for a while. My dad is, and always was a great one, but did not know all that was happening, and did not know how to deal with it anyways. He was doing his best though, and when I was with him, it was fine.
Long story short, my aunt was kind and took me away from it all and did everything she could to help me. For years I sort of lost touch with her, only talking to her every few years.
Fast forward and now she is in poor health. Has serious vision issues to the point that she cannot drive. Cannot see steps in front of her. Stairs are not an option. She also has a very difficult time walking, so she is mostly house bound. Her only child, a daughter has a son who succeeded getting into the Air Force Academy. Super smart kid. His dad is a total tool and has not been in the picture for years. My aunt's grandson was graduating bootcamp and having his shoulder boards pinned on in a ceremony. But unfortunately his mom could not be there. Grandma (my aunt) was upset about this and reached out to me and asked if I could get her there, so the young man would have family present.
This woman has never asked for anything from me ever. Naturally I dropped everything. It was a request I could not say no to and a "payback" that has been decades in the making. I drove over to the Boise valley and spent the night at her home and the next morning got her to the airport. Grabbed a wheelchair and began our adventure.
There were a series of misadventures. A few times she was ready to give up. I kept telling her " This is no problem. We can handle this". Oh, I forgot to mention that she also requires oxygen, so that needed to be handled as well. But the bottom line is that I got her through the airports, onto aircraft and eventually into our hotel.
Unfortunately we literally just got her into her 3rd floor room when the fire alarm went off. I could not put her in an elevator, and we had to use the stairs and get her down the stairs to the main floor lobby. Some numb nuts had pulled the fire alarm for whatever reason. There was no actual fire. Fortunately it was much easier getting her back to her room (in a wheelchair) as it was for me to get her down those stairs.
The next day we made it out to the Air Force Academy, which is quite an impressive place, and quite beautiful. It covers a considerable amount of real estate too. I spent about 5 hours pushing her up and down hills. Actually I was not alone on that, as her grandson, took over a good part of that as he was very happy and excited to see his grandmother was able to attend, since they are quite close to each other. He took us on quite the tour of the place.
She was able to see him have his should boards pinned on too, as I took her onto the field for that:
It was a great day, and I had a very happy aunt.
The next day I packed her up, and got her back through the airports, which included literally pushing her at a fast trot to catch our connection in Denver. Barely made that one. Literally pushed her in her chair for miles over those few days. All well worth it.
It was my honor to repay my aunt in some small way, even if it took almost 40 years to do so.
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Originally Posted by Lost River
