Day 6: Little Audrey

Those of us of a certain age may remember a cartoon character named Little Audrey.  She was very cute and had a headful of auburn hair.  About 15 years ago at the Ashland Library I met a real live Little Audrey.  She was helping me check out books for my two children – who were running around the bookshelves at the time.  I was mortified by their behavior and hoped that this nice librarian would not say anything.  She had a cute way of looking sideways at my kids as she stamped my books (yes it was a long time ago!)   I whispered my apology for their antics.  Audrey looked up from the books and said “They’re just kids!”  I adored her from that moment.

I hadn’t seen Audrey for a while when I heard that she lost her husband of 55+ years.   When I visited her at that time I brought her a quiche.  I just wanted to offer a small gift of love at a difficult time.   It has been about six weeks since that gift and today I called Audrey to ask if I could visit for a moment.  She seemed uncertain and asked if I could come at another time.  I told her that I would only stop by briefly, and still she hesitated.  Finally I told her “Audrey, I baked you a pie.”  To this she replied, “Well, come on over!

When someone dies it seems that everyone comes around to help but that moment soon passes and then the world expects that you get on with your life.  I remember when my Mom died I was sort of stunned.  There was so much to do and get through.  And somehow in that time I had a feeling that if I just made it through the difficult days that things would somehow “get back to normal.”  It took a while to realize that normal was never going to happen again.

This is just my way of saying that it’s important to keep in touch.  We all need to be reminded that we are loved; that we are important.  Whose day would be brightened by your call?