gathering days…eighty seven

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Let’s clean her house.  Today.

I agreed and hung up the phone.  She wasn’t wasting any time.  A friend sat with her newborn in intensive care, worn out. 

The practical help on the other end of the phone made me laugh.

Let’s clean. 

So we did.  For three hours we scrubbed and it took me back to another day three years back when I was in over my head caring for a wee brown boy.  A friend had called and said, “I’m coming to scrub your toilets.  You can’t say no.”  For two hours she had cleaned the bathrooms from top to bottom (no pun intended) and my gratitude outweighed my horror at needing the help.

I am not good at asking for help.

Today we procured the key, cleaned the house, and locked it up again. 

No thanks needed. 

Just love left where dust had been.

I remember what it meant, that practical toilet-scrubbing love, and how it wrapped around me better than all the cards and words.

I remembered and was thankful as I scrubbed a toilet today.

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~ lindasinklings