Doing Life Together – Susie

What I’m enjoying so much about this series (besides the great stories!), is the fact that I get to share with you little pieces of the dear people whom I’m privileged to do life with! Today’s post comes from my dear friend and writer pal Susie.

Susie Finkbeiner is a novelist and short story writer from West Michigan. Her first novel “Paint Chips” releases as a digital book in January, 2013 and paperback in April with WhiteFire Publishing. When Susie isn’t writing, she is busy as the fiction editor for Burnside Writers Collective as well as Unbound Magazine. She is currently working on a second novel and a collection of short stories.

Susie is a wife, mother of three, and avid reader. She enjoys time with her family, coffee dates with her good friends, and quiet moments to read and write. Be sure to check out Susie’s blog.

Her Last Roll

I’m a bit bird-brained at times. I’m the kind of housekeeper who forgets the importance of mopping the floor until my feet get stuck on a splatter of some invisible sticky mess. Every once in a while I wash the same load of laundry four times before I can dry it.

Usually, I’m just thrilled that I got my kids fed and in (mostly) clean clothes.

That’s why I wasn’t surprised to hear my boy yell, “We’re out of toilet paper!”

In fact, I hear that quite often. Also, “We’re out of soap,” “We’re out of cereal,” “We’re out of milk,” and so on.

Well, on that particular day, I had about a million things to do before getting to the store. So, I grabbed our last roll of paper towel (we were also out of napkins and tissue) and instructed the kids to only use half a piece at a time.

I know. I’m the reason that septic systems fail. Sorry.

Eventually, I was ready to get the kids loaded in the van for a trip to Target. The one with a Starbucks.

I saw my neighbor, Heather, out in her front yard. At the time, she was very pregnant with her fourth kiddo. I let the kids play for a few minutes while we chatted.

“Well, we need to get to the store,” I said. “We’re out of toilet paper. Again.”

“We’re down to our last roll,” Heather said.

We smiled at each other and nodded our heads. We get each other.

Heather looked at me and smiled. “Do you want it? You can have it if you need it.”

Now, I’m not one to take the very last roll of toilet paper from a pregnant woman. But, I have to tell you, her offer made me smile. What a blessing that was.

Sometimes “doing life together” means that we prop each other up through a tough time. That we go on visits to the hospital or help out during a time of unemployment. We send encouraging cards or offer to baby sit.

Other times, it’s just offering your last roll of toilet paper. Or sharing baked goods. Lending the meat mallet or a cup of sugar.

Doing life together means doing the small, every day things for each other.

Mother Teresa once said, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love”.

And we do those small things over and over and compound that great love as we do life together.