I'm not proud. Or tired. Well, kind of tired.

[mrissa]

A couple days ago a friend asked a question that seemed like it might have more broad application than just the social situation he was mentioning, so I thought I would put it and my answer here: what he wanted to know was whether I am okay accepting help from people outside my immediate family in order to be able to do stuff while the stupid vertigo is still around.

And the answer is yes, absolutely. I am not at all proud about accepting help. It may not be that the help you offer is workable for one reason or another, but I will not be at all upset that you offered, and I will not turn whatever offer down out of the sheer desire to avoid accepting help.

What I am not good at is soliciting help from scratch. "You know what would be fun? If you came and got me and then [actual fun thing here]," or, "If you rode the bus down and came over and then [actual fun thing here]," is very hard for me. It sounds to me like, "You know what would be fun? If you baked me a pan of brownies. Wouldn't that be awesome? You could go to the store, and buy the ingredients, and do all the work, and then I would have brownies. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Yes, I know I've baked people brownies before and will likely do it again. And in fact I do like baking brownies. But, "How about I make you a pan of brownies?" is very different from, "How about you make me a pan of brownies?"

Comments

[moiread]

Haha. This! Same here. I love to bake but I only ever want one, maybe two, cookies out of a batch or one half of a regular serving size of brownie from the pan. But you can't make just two cookies! Or half a brownie! And I guess that even if you could (like with those brownies-in-a-mug recipes or whatever), I wouldn't want to. It would feel wrong. The RIGHT WAY is to make the full batch and give the rest to the people around you until they are all round and fat and happy.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, and the brownie-in-a-mug type recipe hardly ever gives you the all too crucial stage of batter in any appreciable amount!

[thoughtdancer.livejournal.com]

I do this with my fruit bread. I really don't like it much, so I usually take the heal.

But my husband and our local friend can kill the rest of the loaf between them, pretty much as soon as it's cool enough to cut.