Helping Hands
Offering friends support in small ways can make a big difference
I’m writing this before the crack of dawn today. Why? Our household has been invaded by the virus of the month. You may have run across it – it’s the one that causes super-high temperatures, mostly in the middle of the night. It lasts a good three days for your children to feel better, which means parents are not sleeping. Now multiply that by the number of kiddos in your house, and you’ve got one tough virus and little rest. Our particular case has lasted about two weeks so far. Our oldest boy just got it a few days ago.
Anyway, this post is not about the virus. It is about lasagna, but first some details. In the early days of our sickness, it was just the triplets who fell ill. We had gone to the doctor, bought our juice and extra bottles of acetaminophen and ibuprofen.
My husband and I worked as an overnight team. I would hear the baby cry and go get him, amazed at the heat. He would feed and then comfort the baby as I sponged him off with a cool rag and gave him his medicine. I would put him back to bed until we did that all over again with the other two. It was definitely not a one-man job.
As we dealt with lack of sleep, I guess it became obvious to others how tired we actually were. One of our good friends wrote that she would like to bring us dinner. “It’s the least I can do,” she said. I jumped at the chance for some help. As you know, when contagious illness arrives, offers of help usually dwindle. No one wants to babysit your children while you sleep when the stomach flu or pink eye comes your way!
So it was such a wonderful surprise when she picked up the lasagna and drove it all the way to our house. No visit, no time for thanks that evening. She merely dropped it off on our porch, rang the bell, and headed back onto I-10 traffic to her own busy home.
It was the best meal we had had in a week. The lasagna was good, but the feeling that someone cared and that someone had gone beyond the easy “Let me know what I can do to help” statement made it delicious! She put it into action.
I can’t be the only one touched by a friend’s thoughtfulness. Let us know the good deeds of Katy – please share!
