As we see the people we love most in our life age, it can truly wear on our hearts. Seeing our parents grow old is a part of life, but that doesn’t make it any easier! For Kimberly Waterbury, that was certainly the case.
Kimberly Waterbury began making a memory book about her mom four years ago after a debilitating stroke.
Kimberly’s mother, Dottie Schnieder, is 95 years old. Sadly, Dottie suffered a stroke a few years ago and has had a different level of mobility ever since. Knowing that her mom was getting older, Kimberly began spending more time with her and recording her special memories in her memory book.
Recently, however, the two women were about to end up on the news for a beautiful moment that happened at the beach.
Wanting to spend a little time in the sun, Kimberly decided to take her mom out to the beach at Orange Beach, Alabama. Along with their friends, Pamela Jones, and Pamela’s mother-in-law, Linda Jones, they all got ready to head out.
The group soon ran into a problem when Kimberly injured her wrist and wasn’t able to push her mom’s cart in the sand.
The whole goal of the trip was to allow Dottie to experience some warm sand under her feet for possibly the last time. Their last day, however, ended badly when Kimberly hurt her wrist. Still, she was determined to get her mom out onto that beach.
Struggling with the heavy cart, Kimberly didn’t know if she was going to be able to get her mom to the shore… until the lifeguards saw what was happening.
Watching the event, the Orange Beach Surf Rescue knew they could help.
“Our guards have been instructed to try to help people out if they’re having a tough time,” says Brett Lesinger. – AL.com
Shane Martin was the lifeguard on duty that day and drove over to the group in a four-wheeler. Shane asked if they needed any help, but Kimberly wasn’t expecting what was going to happen next.
In the blink of an eye, Shane was carrying the frail woman to a beach chair down near the edge of the water.
As the man carried her, Kimberly took some photos that soon went viral. Since they were posted, they’ve garnered thousands and thousands of shares across social media. The kind gesture by the lifeguard staff was a small one, but what it meant to Kimberly’s family was monumental.
The kind gesture gave Kimberly a chance to “just be a daughter,” she says. “I was not a caregiver, I was her daughter.” – AL.com
The lifeguards didn’t mind a bit, and Dottie was able to spend some much-deserved time sleeping in the warm sun.
They were her knights in shining armor for the entire week.
“Any day she felt like coming down, we wanted to make sure she got there,” says Brett. “We told her to holler if the sun was too much.”
For the elderly woman basking in the sun’s rays, it was never too much.
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