Day Eighteen: Free on CraigsList

Looking to be of service to a local family, I packed up the last material reminders of my son's life as an infant. Five paper grocery bags were soon bulging with clothing, board books, rattles, teethers, plush animals and even his adorable little baby piano. Surveying the house afterwards, I noticed his little-used rocking horse and decided to add that to the bunch. I posted an ad to the FREE section of my city's Craigslist.org and waited for a reply.

Within minutes, my inbox was flooded with people asking for some or all of it. One woman's email, in particular, caught my eye. She wanted all the items, lived only a few minutes away from me, and had a set of nine month old twin boys in her care. We established a pick-up time at my home and I spent the remainder of the afternoon playing with my son and gathering the stray baby toys that had found their way into his toy boxes or under the couch.

Meeting Anna was both wonderful and heartbreaking.

"I didn't know that infant Motrin, those little bottles, were $10 each!", she said with a sad smile. Two weeks before, her niece had visited their home and dropped off her two sons. She'd not been in contact since, leaving Anna and her sister, both newly unemployed, along with Anna's three teenaged children, to try and care for the babies. To make matters more difficult, the babies were fighting off the flu and feeling extra inconsolable.

"These babies will have to grow up fast. They'll have to learn to eat grown-up things like oatmeal."

The money's just not there for them, and I couldn't have had a worse time to be cash-poor and feeling helpless as we chatted with her youngest daughter in the lobby of my home. She gave me a hug and I felt so pained for her. What a thing, to be suddenly saddled with five children and no income. Baby clothes and toys, while she hoped they'd distract the fussy, fevered pair for an evening, was a drop in the bucket, a drop in the ocean of what they really needed.

"Please", I said as I hugged her tight, "let me know what I can do to help you."

She waved her hand as if sprinkling fairy dust over the bagged baby toys. "Sleep! We all need some sleep." With a laugh and a wave, she was off, and I've been scheming ever since over how I can do more for her family.