What Helps

So on and on I've been going about what hurts. Blah, blah, blah, right. Everybody's got stuff going on, and I don't know about you, but I'm sick of hearing me whine. I was starting to give myself a headache.

So, risking the wrath of the deities, I will change course now.

Let me tell you what helps.

Love helps. Today a beautiful woman brought me a heart on a ribbon, and the heart says, "Be Strong." I am taking it with me to the doctor tomorrow.

Emails help. My inbox overflowed with love last week, and the senders all acted as if they ought to send more. More than love? Never heard of such a thing.

Chocolate cake helps, and we must have had five kinds at lunch today. I grabbed a shovel.

Retail therapy helps. For a minimalist, anti-commercial kind of gal with limited resources, it shocked me to get a buzz buying a new knife block at Target when I really went there to get staples. You know the slippery slope; next I got giddy at Amazon.com and then splurged on a slipcover that cost more than the second-hand chair I've been meaning to spruce up for years.

Help helps. A dear friend came over yesterday and played with my children for a while, and I got a much needed respite. I even got to cover that chair.

Laughing helps. (Someone, please send jokes. I have not been laughing enough.)

Hugs help. I collected them all day today.

Work helps. Bury me in a research project and for a while I forget to fill every nook and cranny of time with worry.

Calls help. My mom called today to say, "So you find another school. Some people right now are trying to find a transplant or a transfusion or a ..." You get the picture. I like to hear my mom say, "So what?" It always means love. "So what?" she said today. "He is ours and we love him." And love helps most of all.