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For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

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Wishing Clouds Clear for Sunshine

The email from Judith, a Ventura resident, began warmly, “Dear Woody, I am one of your longtime readers . . .”

As is the frequent modus operandi, however, the butter up was followed by an appeal for a favor. Often the request is for me to write a column reviewing a self-published book or perhaps to ask my readers to donate to a classroom/club/team. That sort of thing.

Judith’s cause is her nephew. Rather, her special-needs nephew’s caregiver driver who has seen sunny times erased by storm clouds.

Unfortunately, I have found it necessary as a rule to turn down all such requests lest my general interest column become a weekly book review or fundraising bugle. Too bad, because Judith’s plea begs for a happy ending.

Riffy, Judith’s 26-year-old nephew, is autistic. His driver is named Sunshine, which seems both appropriate and mocking.

Mocking because when she was 12, Sunshine lost her mother.

Mocking because Sunshine had to retire early from her career as a chemist after being diagnosed with Lupus.

More so, however, Sunshine is appropriately descriptive. For example, her home has become affectionately known as “The Sunshine House” because of her affinity for welcoming those in need of a hot meal and warm bed.

Sunshine’s caring rays filled her car as well. After leaving the periodic table in her rearview mirror, she started driving senior shut-ins to doctor appointments, shopping, and other errands.

Riffy, too, began relying on her to drive him 40 miles to his daily six-hour habilitation program; Sunshine, in turn, relies on her 2015 minivan to help Riffy. All this chauffeuring has caused Sunshine to exceed the mileage allowed by her vehicle lease, meaning she must now buy it.

Roll in the storm clouds.

Ironically, the minivan Sunshine uses for acts of kindness driving others might be lost because of her kindness: a while back she unselfishly, and unwisely, co-signed a lease for a friend who needed a car to get to work and co-signed a loan for another friend to get a place to live.

You guessed it: the latter was evicted and the former was late in making payments. Hence, Sunshine’s once-excellent credit rating nosedived and she has been unable to get the new financing she needs.

Enter Riffy’s parents, Joan and Tom, who have started a Go Fund Me page (www.gofundme.com/sunshine-driving-service) with a goal of raising the $23,440 needed to pay off the minivan.

Their real goal is to give a little sunshine to both Sunshine and Riffy, who was born with a rare genetic mutation CDK13.

“As a result,” Joan told me, “Riffy has Intellectual Disability, Autism, ADHD and a Developmental Coordination Disorder.”

She added: “When you become a special-needs parent, you have to also become a special educator, behavior specialist, attorney, activist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, speech therapist, recreation therapist, psychotherapist, not to mention an alchemist, shaman, magician and fixer.”

Sunshine and her husband Joshua, meanwhile, have been godsends.

“Early on, Joshua, who is a Deacon in his Church, told me that if anything happened to Tom and me, Sunshine and he would take care of Riffy,” Joan marvels.

“When Tom had many illnesses over the last two years, Joshua would call and ask if I wanted to have a word of prayer. Sunshine would always tell me to have a ‘blessed day’ and loves Riffy’s eccentricities. Clearly, we got so much more then drivers.”

Clearly, Sunshine’s story is worthy of a rainbow ending. I just hope Judith and Joan and Riffy understand that I can’t start doing fundraising columns. Rules are rules, after all.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon