Practical Gesture

[rodaniel]

My boss' father is terminally-ill and the family is bracing for his imminent passing.

Here at the office, we started talking about what we could do to be of some comfort & help for our friend and her family during this unbelievably difficult time. There was a lot of hand-wringing as we struggled to think of something appropriate or sufficient and I quickly recalled a wonderful gesture from a really nice co-worker several months ago...

When my Mom passed away last year, a very down-to-earth older lady from work showed up (very unexpectedly) on my doorstep with a large box in hand. The box (a copy paper box from the office, as I recall) that contained paper plates, napkins, cups, plastic utensils, several sizes of ziplock baggies, aluminum foil, Cling Wrap, kitchen-sized trashcan liners, and a few other practical odds & ends. Her rationale was that these supplies might prevent us from having to muss & fuss with cleaning up after meals and storing leftovers would be a no-brainer. And true to her intent, all of those supplies did really help.

In the days preceding & after the funeral, several very generous family friends brought food - lots of food - and lots of people sent some really beautiful flowers and very pretty potted plants, but for me, this thoughtful gesture is the thing that still comes to mind.

I know this seems really mundane and certainly isn't fancy or especially impressive - some might even think it a little "ghetto" - but if you have a friend who's down ill or if you're trying to think of something to do for a grieving friend, this might be worth considering. Even in the worse of times, you still need basic household supplies.

Rob