Neighborly Care

I hadn’t lived at my cabin long when my mother’s cancer spread. She came home with me to live out her final days. One afternoon as I was collecting my mail, a lady in an SUV pulled up and opened her window.

“Hi, neighbor,” she said. “We’ve never met, but I’m Sue from the other log cabin down the road.” She asked about all the cars that had suddenly surrounded my place.

“My mother is very ill, and all our family and friends are stopping by,” I explained.

“Well, in that case, you’ll surely need food!” she announced. “Whenever I cook, I always make an extra meal. My freezer is full of them for times just like this. What would you like? Baked chicken? Meatloaf? Cubed steak? Or how about all three?”

I’d been wondering what I would fix for dinner for all these people visiting, and here was this amazing person right in front of me. Why, she was a caregiver, too! So many times, I’ve marveled at her approach to being neighborly. She was able to help spontaneously because she planned to be a helper.

My mother passed on two decades ago, and Sue has moved to another town, but hers is a lesson that guides me still.