Your meatloaf story was on the side of zany and fun. Mine is on the ‘always a mother-- surprise ending’ side of things. Many years ago, my late mom (God rest her soul) was in a nursing home—and on my last visit with her we had a serious conversation. She asked when I was going to ‘return to the Church and to the Sacraments?’ I made a rather flip comment about whether good non-Catholics go to Heaven or not. Little did I know that a dozen years later, I would be not only in the Church—but a Catholic Deacon too. Now—she is, I’m certain—close to the Throne explaining that the reason it took me so long was because I wouldn’t listen to my mom. Like your neighbor—mom speaks to me—with some special ways to (perhaps) sneak into Heaven. Blessings. Deacon Tom.
Meatloaf Rescue
Posted by Rebecca Teti in Just me on Saturday, August 09, 2008 1:00 PM
“I have a totally zany request,” said the voice on the phone. It was a neighbor who moved in a couple of blocks away a few months ago. She was caught in traffic and wanted to know if it would be too much of an imposition to have me go to her home and rescue the meatloaf she’d left in the oven. Of course it wasn’t --I rather enjoyed my little adventure sneaking into her house (now I know the secret). Mostly I’m delighted she felt the confidence to ask; now I know we’re friends, not mere acquaintances.
What are the zaniest things you’ve asked --or been asked-- of your friends?
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I think the strangest thing I had to do (well, dh had to do it for us), was to ask a friend (who’s also a neighbor) to come to our house and sleep on our couch—as I was being taken to the hospital in an ambulance at 11 pm (emergency, not delivery)! The kids didn’t wake up (even with the police and EMTs in the living room) and were surprised to find Mrs. R in the living room when at least one of them woke up for a bathroom break. DH came home once I was admitted, but that wasn’t until after 3am! I never imagined I’d have to ask someone to do that.
This same neighbor watches our dog for us when we travel. This summer she heard dripping when she came in to feed the dog—and found the freezer door open and melting! She emptied our very full freezer and carted it home in a wagon to save what hadn’t defrosted yet. I’m embarrassed to remember the things that were in there! But a couple weeks later, her freezer was dripping and I then had plenty of room to reciprocate for her!
Re-reading that—I should explain the embarrassing freezer items: far too many brown bananas awaiting banana bread and pancakes, ends of bread for wheat crumb pancakes, chicken trimmings and carcasses saving up to make stock, etc. My friend isn’t much for making things from scratch at all, so she was probably quite confused by some of what she found!
The strangest thing my neighbor has ever asked me to do was to go check if her dog was drinking water. She seemed to think that he was not drinking at all and his belly was getting fatter. He is a purebred Maltese, and such dogs are prone to liver disease. Unfortunately, he does have liver disease, and will eventually have to be put to sleep. This neighbor is such a dear friend. She is in her 60’s and was unable to have children of her own so she is like a surrogate grandmother to my younger children. We feel blessed to be able to help her out.
About 10 years ago, we had just moved to Maryland. My husband was away on business, and I got sick. So did my younger son. The two of us could barely get out of the bed.
So my oldest son, then about 7 years old called my mom in Illinois to visit over the phone. When my mom heard the situation, she did the asking for me. She called our new parish and asked if someone could go to the grocery store for us.
And someone did. A few hours later, a lady from the parish stopped by and brought us bananas, ginger ale, applesauce, plain yogurt, and a bag of Doritos for the healthy son. Just as importantly, she brought me her welcoming smile and comforting concern.
I began to feel a little bit more at home in our new home that day. How grateful I was, and still am, for the kindness of that sister in Christ!
I asked a friend, who was 32 weeks pregnant with twins at the time, to run to the pharmacy and pick up a home pregnancy test for me. I has just badly sprained my ankle and was immobile, and she did ASK if there was something she could do to help me! She said the clerk at the pharmacy looked at her as if she was off her rocker ("You mean you’re not SURE if you’re pregnant?!"), but she kept her cool and her giggles under control. BTW, the test was positive, the culprit is now 2 1/2 years old, and the ankle is nicely healed!
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