Dear Reader,
"Hello, my name is Suzanne. I'm a volunteer for the Senior Friendship Center in Sarasota. The folks at the Friendship Center gave me your name and number, they wanted me to check and make sure you're able to safely get to the grocery store for food and other essentials."
Those words have been my opening lines day after day for the past two months. I know them by heart, because everyday I've been making phone calls checking in on seniors. "Would you like to receive the free frozen meal program the center offers?" And I continue on down the list of inquiries, leaving the question I dread asking the most for the end--because many times the answers bring me to tears."Would you like someone to give you a call once or twice a week to check in with you?"
And many times I hear such loneliness in their replies. "Well, if someone has the time to call. Yes I would like that. You see I'm 84 and I live alone in our house now, George, my husband, passed away two years ago. I miss him so much and I feel very lonesome sometimes."
Conversations like this one remind me of a woman I met years ago. I was attending a meeting and when it was finished, I had the feeling that an elderly woman sitting in my row needed a ride home. So I inquired and after one socially polite, "Oh, I wouldn't want to put you out" comment, she quickly accepted my offer.
The woman and I made casual, small talk conversation on the way to her house, which wasn't strange, after all we'd just met. But when we got to her house and it was time to say good-bye, for some reason I felt an overwhelming sense of urgency to get out of the car and give the woman a hug. I lightly put my arms around her and gave a quick squeeze, but when I dropped my arms, hers tightened around me in a firm, please-don't-stop embrace. We stood in her driveway for what seemed like a very long time, and when she released her grip, I could see tears in her eyes. "Thank you for the hug," she said, "my husband died eight months ago and I didn't realize until you hugged me just now, how much I miss the simple touch of another person."
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
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