Slider

You Know What's Nice to Have? Family.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

For many years of my life I lived far away from my family: four years at college about 5.5 hours away, 1 year in Prague (self-explanatory hours away) and then about 2.5 years in Washington, D.C., about 7 hours away. Now that I've been living back near my family for the past several years, I can honestly say ...

... there is something to be said for living near people who love you.

Like clearly we need to live near - some might suggest with - our families as children. But seriously as an adult, it's still a great place to be.

Case in point -- My Mom doesn't work on Wednesdays. So yesterday I asked her if she'd mind meeting me at Walmart before my work so I could drop my car off for an oil change, then drive me to work, then pick me back up at work at noon and drive me back to retrieve my car. This is about the third or fourth time we've done this little arrangement. She agreed to help me out and we agreed we'd meet at Walmart at 7:30 a.m. so I could be at work by 8. 


So when I roll into the Walmart at 7:30 a.m. I find out that sometime between my last oil change and this one, Walmart changed their auto hours and they don't open till 9. Seriously? So my mom rolls in about a minute later and drives up next to me and I roll my window down like, ummmmm ... so .... they don't actually open till 9.

How did my mom respond?

"That's okay! I need to get groceries anyways and now I'll get in there before there's anyone else there!" said the lady who I just made meet me somewhere at 7:30 a.m. on her day off for absolutely no reason at all.

Only people who (are obligated to) love you will do that.

OH ... I also texted her after I got to work and asked her if she'd get me a box of those instant coffee packs, the cheap ones, you know, Taster's Choice or something. She got me THREE BOXES and one of them was a name-brand! What?!

Oh, she also WENT BACK to Walmart at noon, picked me up after I dropped my car off, took me to lunch, took me back to work, picked me up at work at 4 and drove me back to get my car. Yep. Kathy spent her day off chauffeuring me from Walmart to work to work to Walmart. Pretty much the only other person who might do this for me in the world is my dad, also someone who loves me.


Speaking of my dad, when my washer broke/I got a flat tire/I got another flat tire/my car needed inspected/I might want a ceiling fan/etc. guess who helped me with all that stuff? ("Helped me" = did all the work.)

If I need someone to feed Baby S when I'm out of town, if I need to use a printer, if I need a stamp, if I want to brag about a good grade I got, if I want to see a movie -- you know who will do/allow/give/listen/go with me (and buy popcorn)? The Lafferres. Like guys, ain't no one gonna do stuff to help you out like your family will do stuff to help you out.

I'm just saying ... it's really nice to live near people who you know you can call on when you need some help and they'll be right there. Turns out families are pretty legit. :)

Oh, look for a future post on my brothers and sisters, also known as the people who designed my dance website for free/dropped everything to drive to my apartment to "help me" (see above definition) find and kill a mortally injured house mouse/let me sit in the front seat in the car so I don't barf.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I'd love to hear from you! Let me know what you think.

Powered by Blogger.
Theme Designed By Hello Manhattan
|

Copyright

(c) Anna Lafferre Kraft 2012-2021