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> What about those people who don't have family support systems? People talk
> all the time about families taking care of each other. What family? I've
> never lived closer than a 3 day drive from my relatives, compliments of the
> U.S. Army. I'm also not in the minority as far as this situation goes.
> Nice idea. Doesn't work these days.
>
> brenda
>
I know this post is a couple of days old and off of your minds now, but I
just had to comment. I'm still catching up after being in the hospital for a
couple of days and having a broken ankle...

I must be really lucky. My parents live an hour and a half away, but are
ageing and it is difficult for them to help. The paramedics called them and
they came right away. We have wonderful friends and neighbors on our block.
The kids went from house to house, were dressed, bathed, fed, nourished,
played with and loved every minute of my hospitalization. As soon as it was
clear the extent of the fracture, a friend down the street started calling
everyone she knows to get a lead on a nanny. We hired one last night
(Thursday), just four days after the fall. We have dinner coming every other
night. We have people begging to do errands, running to the library, fixing
our vacuum cleaner, etc. Maybe we just live in Mayberry, but it does happen
in this day and age. A diverse group of public and Catholic schoolers,
christians, agnostics, undeclareds, republicans, democrats, tall, short, fat,
fit, big families, small families, grown children, little children and those
inbetween. We all have a desire to live in a community together and make our
lives easier. We work at it. We've made our own family.

It's humbling to be on the receiving end of such caring attention.

Elizabeth