Sunday, April 5, 2009

"Labor of Love"

This week-end my parents have left my younger sister and I alone to kind of fend for ourselves while they went with my little brother to his state bowling tournament. Since my younger sister had to work most of the time yesterday, my day was spent mostly trying to keep busy and not to bored.
One of the ways I did this was by helping a friend of mine with "Labor of Love." Labor of Love is a program my friend started here as a way for the confirmation students to get some service hours while helping the elderly in our community. Basically we meet at an "older" person's home where we then commence to whatever task they need done. In the fall, the most popular thing we do is rake yards, and in the winter we usually end up shoveling driveways. Yesterday, though, my friend and I were washing windows for one couple. I enjoy helping out with this project, and try to do so whenever I am able to. It's always nice to help people, and I always hear some interesting stories from these people, you know, about how they grew up. It was so so different from the way I have grown up. Yesterday; for example, the woman was telling me how she used to have to wash her clothes... She did not have a dryer like we do now, to dry her clothes. They had to air dry a lot of their clothes, so if it was raining, the did not do the laundry. I think listening to what they have to say to us is just as helpful in some ways as raking their yard or shoveling their driveway. It only took up an hour and a half of my day, which I probably would have spent in a less productive way at home.
Now, I'm off to get ready for the rest of my day today.

1 comment:

Suzanne said...

You know another thing I thought of while reading this? You really didn't have alot of time growing up with grandparents. I had some times where I listened to stories my Grandma had to tell and visiting with her a few times. I didn't have any time with a grandpa. I think helping with the elderly can fill in those gaps that are so important and some of those folks have no young around them..maybe their family is not around here and in many cases...they are and NEVER come to see them. Thank you for helping like this, Teresa. I'm sure God is pleased with this part of you too!