Strangers

Living at the beach is awesome, no doubt about it, but it does have a potential drawback. However I'm learning that a potential drawback can be a benefit... if I simply have the right attitude.

Our house is a duplex and our neighbor next door is a great guy. So we definitely got lucky. However the house immediately to the north of us is a rental unit that is one of the least expensive and therefore most popular rental homes on Beach Road. Every week there's a new group of people staying at that rental house and since they're on vacation they tend to let loose and party long and loud. It's not unusual to see alcohol being consumed at 8am, bonfires at midnight and just about everything you can imagine in between. Vacationers have even "borrowed" our patio furniture and stolen our firewood, so it can be pretty annoying. But my wife and I feel very blessed to be living at the beach so we have learned to be patient and try to cut the vacationers a little slack. In fact, my wife loves to cook so quite often she will take cookies to our temporary newest neighbors.

Last week, right on cue a new vacation group showed up. The first guy I spotted was really rough looking, with a huge beard, dreadlocks and tons of tattoos. My first impression (and shame on me) was that this was a guy that I didn't want to meet and I certainly didn't want to take cookies to him. However, later in the day when I returned from the store, I discovered my bearded neighbor had chased down our large beach umbrella that had blown down the beach in the wind. I thanked him for his help and spent some time talking with him. It turns out he is the opposite of his appearance and cookies are the least of what I should be doing for him.

His name is Mike Hyde and four years ago his infant son developed a brain tumor.  His name was Cash "Cashy" Hyde and as he battled cancer he endured more pain and suffering then any child should ever go through. Along the way he established quite a few medical "firsts" and helped to pioneer a new alternative cancer treatment that has now spread successfully around the world. Little Cashy died at the age of four but Mike and his wife went on to form the Cash Hyde Foundation, which not only raises money for pediatric cancer, but also builds "reggae runners" which are small, customized toy cruisers and wagons with IV poles mounted to them so that sick children can go for a ride and have a little fun.

It has only been two years since Cashy Hyde died. As his father told me his story I could see the tears form in his eyes and the pain swell in his heart. But I could also hear the passion in his voice about all the good his foundation was doing to ease the pain for children in more than 40 different hospitals throughout the western United States. Mike told me that sometimes we can only bring smiles to a child for a few minutes...but at least for those few minutes....cancer isn't winning!

What did I learn? Obviously you should never judge people by their appearance, but I also learned that if you take the time to get to know a stranger, quite often you can turn strangers into friends!

Cashy stares out a window in his hospital room
 

Kindness isn’t a big thing…its a million little things.

~ Anonymous