A Bowl Of Soup

Despite the fact that I have been a Relief Society President, when I am sick, my first thought isn't to call her to let her know that I need meals.  Besides, Gary, Ben and Jena are old enough to manage feeding themselves.  And frankly the first three weeks I was too sick to talk to anyone.  I think I didn't even email my dad until right before having surgery.  I feel dads have the right to know those types of things before they happen but I was just too sick to do it sooner.  So basically few people knew about the stone in October and we just kind of flew under the radar so to speak.  Then as my friends found out, we were harassed by them for not letting them know and we reminded them of times they had done the same to us and we all laughed and life goes on........but I kept being sick and Ben was getting worse.

On November 11 at 11:00 p.m. I got home from school and listened to my voice mail.  One message was from the Relief Society President telling me that a single lady I visiting teach was having surgery the next day and could I bring her dinner Wednesday night.  I was reviewing my Wednesday in my mind as I listen to the next message which informed us Ben had been taken to the ER.  Of course off I went and it wasn't until 5:00 a.m. Wednesday morning that I was home again.  The second night I hadn't gone to bed before 5 a.m..

It seemed like a simple thing--take a plate of dinner to my beloved sister, but that morning at that time, it seemed way more than I could do.  I knew that I had to make another trip down to visit Ben that night and I had to sleep sometime during the day and my health was so shaky that I wasn't even sure I was cooking dinner.  So I composed a text saying that I would need someone to do this task for me.  I didn't feel bad as I realized that I really did have a lot going on, but I was sad.  I would loved to have taken food into her in her time of need.

Sometime in the morning I got a sweet text for Betty Van Orden, our Relief Society President--who is one of the sweetest people in the world--saying that she was bringing us dinner that night at 5.  I wrote back a response saying we were fine but just take care of Elaine.  I didn't hear back from her so that is how we left it.

At 4 I headed to catch a nap before driving to Salt Lake to see Ben.  I asked Gary to stay until about 5:15 just in case she was bringing dinner despite my text.  Sure enough, promptly at 5, I heard the door bell and voices as she and her husband dropped off homemade chicken soup, bread, and a cake.  Gary and Jena ate and then headed off for their evening activities and obligations while I slept.

It was dark and quiet in the house when I woke up at 6 p.m..  I heated myself a bowl of soup and curled up in the lazy boy chair in our bedroom to eat it before heading off to Salt Lake. Literally as I took the first bit of soup, my whole being filled with love--like the soup had been filled with magic dust.  It made me cry as I felt as if I could physically feel the love that Betty had for me and her thoughts about me as she made the soup that day. And that feeling of love expanded to my sisters in our ward and then of course I felt strongly the love of our Heavenly Father and our Elder brother, Jesus Christ.  That's a lot from one bit of soup--far more than simple words can express.

I ate only that soup for three days anytime that I felt I could eat something.  It became like manna to me at a difficult time in my life. I want to never forget that experience and I hope that some day in some way I can play it forward.

And we have benefited from other meals as I was sick this past week and each one of them bring with them the love and joy of friendships.  We are so grateful for all of them and their service to our family.