48. THEY'RE HERE!

Great news!   

On March 6 – my great=grandsons, Lincoln Michael Harrison Braid and Levi Stefan Curtis Braid, weighing in at 7.3 and 6.12 lbs. respectively, arrived by natural birth.  

Where mommy, Michelle, kept two normal sized babies in her slim form is a big question.   Daddy, Ryan, wanted a boy this time and was thrilled that he got two!  

With my youngest great-granddaughter. Blakely Rome Carmichael, who was born before I left for Mexico but hadn't seen, I now have three new great-grandbabies to meet when I return to Canada in April.  

That’s probably the reason I’m actually looking forward to going home this year, instead of my usual, “Oh darn – I’ve only got 6 weeks left!”

Life in Manzanillo continues to unfold unexpectedly. 

Last Sunday afternoon, Azucena called asking my help in identifying a man who had collapsed on the street in Santiago – the town from which Club Santiago took its name.  He had no ID on him but was carrying one of Azucena’s business cards, so people trying to help him called her. 

The man said his first name, but not his last.   He said he lived in ‘Brises Vista’ which doesn’t exist.  Azucena told them to call an ambulance and get him to Hospital Echauri immediately.  One of the strangers accompanied him to the hospital. 

Meanwhile, I phoned a friend in LaVista condominiums where Don and I had wintered for a number of years, thinking he possibly meant LaVista.  There was no answer.  

We have a local FaceBook page called GoGoZLO so I posted an “Urgent!” message on it with my name and phone number to contact.  Almost immediately calls began coming in and my iphone notifications began to ding as replies to my post arrived.  But there was no answer to who this mysterious man was.

Then Azucena called me again, this time to tell me she and Gustavo were at the hospital and that the man was going to be okay.  He had come around and was able to give them his personal information. and they had phoned his sons in the U.S. 

At that point my friend from LaVista returned my call and confirmed what we now knew - he was indeed an elderly neighbour whose wife died two years previously and who lived alone for the winter in one of the condos.  

My friend and the rest of the condo residents have decided they would take turns checking on him daily when he gets home from the hospital and help him in any way they can. 

This episode reinforced the kindness of the people in Manzanillo by the caring actions of strangers and how helpful our local FaceBook page is in keeping the community connected. 

It’s also a comfort knowing that no one is alone here even if you live alone. 

A lesson that can be taken from this is that you should always carry ID with you no matter where you are going - even just a walk on the beach. Accidents can happen anywhere and it is important that strangers know who you are, where live and who to contact in an emergency.

It was an exciting couple of hours on an otherwise quiet afternoon.