Barbara Lawlor, Peak to Peak.  It was the last scene in Frank Capra’s beloved movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.

Jimmy Stewart is at the top of the stairs watching friends, family and neighbors pour in from the streets of Bedford Falls. They brought bags of money, they waved banknotes, the kids had jars full of pennies. The town formed a bond of support to stop a run on the bank, to show George Bailey that his life had changed theirs, that the world was a better place because of him.

It was always a heart-warming moment and I always wondered what it would be like to be George on that staircase, looking at the people in his life coming together to tell him that what he had accomplished in his life had benefitted all of them.

Last week, on Saturday, July 14, at Roy and Barb Stewart’s Last Shot, I watched a line of people weave into the restaurant to show support for me and there are no words to describe the total elation of realizing that each day, each week, each edition of the paper, each year gone by, meant something to the community I live in and love.

Thank you Roy and Barb.

Thank you Timberline Fire Protection District and all the hunky firefighters.

Thank you, Barb Hardt, for making it happen and especially thanks to all of you, my friends and neighbors for all of the generous contributions to help me get through this step of my life journey.

Thank you Janette Taylor and Kathy Bremers for the Silent Auction.

I have been diagnosed with leukemia and the oncologist says the best they can do is make sure I am comfortable until the warring factors in my blood reach some ending, one or the other of them winning.

All of my life I have lived paycheck to paycheck, bill to bill, and feel terrifically fortunate that I was able to hang onto the house I live in, purchased in 1970. I was always terrified that something would happen, like a medical disaster, and I would end up destitute and homeless. I know, Ms. Drama Queen.

All the funds that were taken in over the weekend, and are still coming in, will cover my medicals bills, the cost of the blood transfusions that keep the life juices pumping in my body. Most of all, the anxiety and depression of past due bills is gone. I have paid off my bills, with the money from all of you guys.

I am the richest I have ever been in my life. I also am the most content I’ve ever been, feeling as if, oh, my goodness, everything turned out all right, after all. My angel got his wings.

Transfusions will keep me going for a while and in that time, I will do my best to continue to write stories and photograph our lives here in the mountains, where I am known as “the camera lady” by the kids and “that pain in the butt” by law enforcement officers.

All of us are in this together and I have never understood so completely before, that we are connected in ways that go beyond roads, iPhones and Facebook. We are entwined in our mutual goals and hopes for each other and that is about as good as it gets, a great way to begin another journey.