341. Asking for Help
Quite a while ago I wrote about asking for what you want, and I even quoted a song that I had written titled “Ask for What You Want Today.” The parallel to that is to ask for what you need. I don’t have a song (yet) for that but I do have a couple to examples.
When my grandson Zachariah was around eighteen months old, I did some major daily babysitting for him. I had broken my right wrist, and while it was healed, it wasn’t very strong. (I’m sorry to report it still isn’t.) Usually before she left each day, Zach’s mother would open the babyfood jars I would need for the day and put them in the refrigerator. One morning I realized she hadn’t done it. It was lunch time and I tried and tried to open them but couldn’t. So I said, “Zach, let’s sit out on the front step, and the first person that walks by, we’ll ask to open the jars.”
He smiled, delighted to be going outside and we sat. As usual along Broadway, it wasn’t long before somebody walked by. We met them at the side walk, stated our
request, the person smiled and opened the jars. Back in the house we went for lunch!
Years later when I was in the midst of chemo treatments for breast cancer, I went to the grocery for just a few things. It was one of those days that I didn’t well. I was glad I only needed a few things. A woman stopped me and said, “Your shoestring is untied. I wanted to let you know so you don’t fall.” I thanked her and walked around the store carefully. I got in line to pay. I knew that if I bent down to tie my shoe, it would make me dizzy and at real risk to fall over. There was a man in front of me and I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around with a questioning look on his face. I smiled and said, “I’m in the middle of chemo treatments and my shoestring is untied. If I bend over…” He interrupted me, said, “I’ve got it—don’t say another word,” and he knelt down and tied my shoestring.
It’s an o.k. thing to do—to ask for what you need today.
