I get by...

...with a little help from my friends.

I am not good at asking for help, but this year, as a newly single bill-payer and homeowner, I've had to humble myself to do so several times, and I've learned something that should have been completely obvious. People like to help. They want to to help. It feels good to help someone -- I know this. I feel good when I help someone else, so why have I been so reluctant to ask for help when I need it? Simply put, I am guilty of pride. I pride myself on being able to do it all, but the fact is that I can't do it all. Sometimes I need help. And that doesn't make me less of a person. In fact, it makes me feel so fortunate that I am surrounded by so many people who care.

A few weeks ago, I had a mattress and boxspring delivered by two enormous men in need of a good dental plan. They were a jovial pair, grinning unself-consciously in spite of the fact that they didn't have a full set of teeth between them, and they were quite graceful given their girth, as they maneuvered the mattress and boxspring into my bedroom. Unfortunately, the weight of a heavy boxspring and two three-hundred pound men (I'm guessing) took it's toll on the stairs leading off my deck, and they collapsed. In the tradition of my mother, I "fixed" my stairs with a combination of bricks and wooden shims, camouflaged with flower pots, but I knew this was a sad and temporary solution. I really needed to get the stairs repaired.

So I asked one of my neighbors and fellow dog-walkers who is now retired and has been busying himself with handyman work. And of course, he was happy to help. The very next morning - before 9 am (on a weekend!) he arrived with tools in hand and whistled his way through the job in about an hour, refusing to take payment (which was a relief, because I didn't have any money to pay him either!!! :>)

So now I will leave you with a digital collage I just made(above). I started with the picture of daisies taken on my friend Debbie's farm (rotated sideways) and transformed it in Photoshop.