White Peony

We had terrible thunder storms last light with high winds & lightening, but at least we were safe. Tornados ripped through part of Nebraska & wiped out half of a small town--a few people died & many in the hospital--our hearts & prayers go out to them!!
After the rain stopped this morning, I went out to fill the birdfeeders & noticed that I had about 6 blooming white peonies! I almost didn't see them, as they were all on the ground because of the storm. I cut them & brought them inside, trying not to shake them too much, as they were still covered in rain & I thought they'd make a nice blip!
I can't look at these now without thinking of a year ago at this time. My sister had called me to say her sister-in-law's mom, H, was coming in for open heart surgery the next day (which means she'd start out in the area where I work) so my sister asked me to stop in & say hi to her, as H was terrified--kept saying she had a bad feeling about the surgery & that she thought she was going to die! After I hung up the phone I looked outside & saw these white peonies blooming, so I thought I'd go & cut some of them, & take them with me to the hospital the next morning & put them in her room for her. Well, when she got to her room, she & her daughters just stood there looking at them in absolute silence! I thought for a moment she was allergic to them or didn't like them, but then she looked at me & started to cry. She asked me how I'd known that white peonies were her favorite flower in the whole world?? (of course, I hadn't known) She went to surgery, & things did not go well. Her 3 hour surgery ended up being closer to 14 hours. My sister came & sat with her sister-in-law & her sister-in-law-'s family for awhile at the hospital, & she told me that the family kept saying they knew their mom would be fine because the peonies were a sign that God was watching over her & all would be well. At one point, H's friend, who was a priest, asked if he might go upstairs & stand outside the operating room to give H a blessing--the volunteer took him up outside the room, & the OR nurse saw him outside the door & mentioned it to the surgeon, who told her to let him come into the operating room & bless them all, as they needed all the help they could get. That's unheard of! But our hospital is known as a top notch heart hospital, & she had one of the best cardiac surgeons we have.... Well, God WAS watching over her that day; she survived the surgery, &
five weeks later she went home. Today you'd never know she'd had such a major surgery, as she's as good as ever. And according to my sister, anytime the surgery is brought up, so are the white peonies! I guess it just goes to show that you never know the impact of a random act of kindness...or maybe not so random!! :))