Sharing Unplanned Abundance

What to do when your pantry is full but a friends' food stuffs are running low? Share of course!

In 2008 the daughter and I were amidst a whirlwind of unstable living. As I recently mentioned I could prefer to live communally with good roommates. Those are apparently hard to find.

Some roommates were just hell. In this particular rental we shared a house with our landlord.

This older woman began to really get cranky with us and I began to pray to move.

Mean while there was the ever day of living with not only her but also another roommate in the three bedroom, one bathroom, older home.

We all also had to share a kitchen and single refrigerator. Everyone has a section of these areas for their own items.

It was under these circumstances that I went grocery shopping one week and came home with too much stuff.

So much that I almost could not get the freezer closed when I was done unpacking.

Maybe I was having trouble adjusting to the moving and paring myself down after living alone with my daughter for so many years. Still it feels like we had lived there for a while so that did not quite explain it.

I knew the landlord roommate who was already cranky would just use this as one more thing to fuss about.

It was one thing when she was making stuff up in her head. Having a real issue to nitpick over might have been a land mine.

Sure enough she noticed after a day or two and quizzed me in an annoyed fashion. I just apologized as best I could and tried to meal plan, keeping the idea of clearing out the most space quickly in mind.

In the normal course of events my good friend called one day. We chatted about our homes, lives and kids as usual.

She was married with three kids trying to start a cleaning business while her husband worked now that the kids were all old enough to go to school.

Stressers and problems were our norm. We were able to shared freely about what we were going through. Many times if not most there was not more that each of us could offer besides a listening ear.

This time she mentioned they were a week or more from payday and out of or running low on food.

My ears perked up.I asked her if there were a lot of specialty items on her grocery list.

We were from two different cultures and there were a few allergy issues among her clan to take into consideration.

My friend assured me that and freezer or pantry basics could be put to good use and would be appreciate.

She had a mom and sister in town, even local in laws I think, plus her husband who worked in food, all resources I did not have. Someone else probably could have shared some meals to tide them over.

Still somehow I just knew my seemingly ridiculous abundance was not for me and my household. It was a small gift meant to be shared.

We scheduled a time for her to drop by and pick up a few bags full of food. It just felt right.

Recently I blogged about that large 5lbs container of honey that was sitting around in my kitchen.

Last night I poured out four cups and am storing it.

The rest I sent home with a young family and their new baby. Babies can’t eat honey but I am sure the growing family will find uses for the sweetener.

Being new parents I know they are connected to other families too that they can share with.