my life is a soap opera?

this is definitely what came to my mind all night last night as i thought about the craziest thing ever happening yesterday.

yesterday afternoon, while i was waiting for some x-rays to be developed in the dark room, i decided to check my email on my phone. 5 new messages? fun. 3 messages down, 2 to go...friend request from who? i don't know that person- delete. 4 messages down, 1 to go...facebook message from who? still don't know that person- curious. as i began to read, i'm pretty sure my eyes grew larger and larger, my mouth dropped open wider and wider, and as i breathed my inhaling turned into one long quick gasp. are you kidding me? is this for real? pinch myself.

what i read was a super sweet facebook message (and friend request) from jorden, the daughter of the man who donated his liver to me when i had the transplant 7 years ago. that's pretty soap opera, right?

she's 18, a freshman in college (the same age i was when i was diagnosed with wilson's disease and had the transplant) and is writing a persuasive speech on organ donation and wanted to use a quote from the letter i sent her and her family shortly after the transplant. so she found the letter and noticed i had put my first and last name at the bottom- so she thought, i wonder if she's on facebook? of all the brookes, i think it is no accident that she found me right away. i also don't think it's an accident that she has one younger sister and is just 2 years apart from her, and her birthday is the same as my grandfathers (only three days away from mine).

i'm not really sure what to do after making such an incredible new discovery and an awesome new friend. i feel like i have another whole family in a strange way, even though i really don't know them at all. i guess there's a bond that can't help but be formed when something so significant happens in two people's lives and they are so closely and intimately intertwined. i know i can never thank them enough for what they did for me, and i will never understand the pain and loss they suffered in losing a husband and a father. and though i don't currently know anything about jorden's dad, it all has become so surreal to me now- he is changing in my mind from being "someone out there" to a real person, with a family, and a wife, and so much more. i feel like he must be looking down on me from Heaven too.

i am so thankful to be here and i know that God let me stay on this earth to serve some purpose, some role that no one else will be able to fill. i hope and pray that by following His direction and guidance I can make Him proud and show Him that He made a good decision in letting me stay awhile longer.

ps- if you're reading this and you aren't yet an organ donor, for shame! go tell your family you want to be one and sign the back of your driver's license. i will testify and say it is the most important decision you will make to impact someone else's life, and it won't cost you anything but a few minutes time.