Where Do You Go to Get a Pot of Soup Around Here?!?

Harv is in bed sick today. He's got the flu. I sent him to bed early last night, but it was a rough night for all, let me tell you. I knew that this wasn't a conjured up ploy for some extra TLC when I made his favorite supper - Creamy Pepper Chicken, and he hardly ate a bite. Then I knew...off to bed with you. With a little kiss on the cheek, and a pail beside the bed, he was off. OK...before I come off sounding too maternal and caring - let me share a little piece of info with you about yours truly. I am not good with sick people. I mean, I can give a pitying, sad looking sympathetic face like the best of them. And I can touch your forehead with the back of my hand feigning some sort of fever knowledge, but other than that I am at a loss. It is a real problem. I remember when I was interning as Dean of Women at Millar, one of my responsibilities was the daily check on the sickies in the dorm. It was my WORST job! I would stand there shuffling uncomfortably in the doorway with my sympathy face and my feeble..."Well ok then, you get some sleep now.Bye Bye now." I am just not good with "sick".

My mother is great with sick people. She was always the best nurse. I remember faking stomach aches so that I could stay home and have her care for me, while I lay on the couch watching Jim and Tammy Faye Baker on PTL with great facination. Why did Tammy Faye cry all the time? And how did she get her lashes looking so thick? These were the ponderings of a young child. And mom would check in on me with all the right words to say, the right level of patience for lingering whining, and there was that perpetual pot of soup simmering on the stove, just waiting to offer comfort. She should have been a nurse. How I wish that those genes were passed on to me, but alas they were not. Too bad really, cause they would have helped me out greatly in this line of work! The funny thing about it is - I LOVE hospital visitations. It is one of my favorite parts of pastoring. Maybe it is because I get to buy flowers and swoop in like a ray of sunshine. In and out like a happy little elf leaving a trail of good feelings behind. Maybe THAT'S IT!! Maybe it's not that I am not good with sick people, it's just that I need props! Come to think of it, Mom always had that pot of soup handy. Maybe I just need to have a supply of the right tools with me at all times. I'll have to ponder on that for a while. But in the meantime, I should go check on Harv. And because I don't have my flower power with me, I will have to dig into the recesses of my compassion and rely on my best sympathy face. I better go practice. Have a good day all and...BE WELL.