Say What You Mean, And Mean What You Say!

Honestly, I try to stick to this rule of speaking, at all times. Although, I think I am being obvious or clear from my perspective of speaking, apparently I am not always as clear as I hope. At least I wasn't today. A friend of mine is pregnant, and having a rather difficult pregnancy.  She has now been put on bed rest, and having walked that road myself before, I said, "let me know if you need anything." By this I MEANT bringing her a stack of books to read, or a dinner for her and her family, but I did not specifically say those things. My offer was answered with an enthusiastic, "Thank you!  Could you come mop and clean my floors tomorrow?" I was taken aback. I did not know how to respond. Could I actually respond with, "Um, no. I didn't mean that."? Certainly not! So, tomorrow I will mop and clean her floors. Let's forget for a moment that this is a job I hate to do at my own house, let alone someone else's. Especially a someone else that has just re-floored her entire house with bamboo floors. Sigh. I can't NOT do it. Oh yeah, and evidently I am going to the pharmacy for her too. Lesson learned.  My offer of help was genuine, it was just taken to a higher level than I originally anticipated. 

I probably sound like a completely awful friend, but I am not trying to be. To redeem anyone's opinion of me, two days ago I did offer to do laundry for a friend that has a newborn plus four other kids.  However, that was an area I knew she needed help, and her newborn is not doing well.  He is not gaining weight, won't eat well, and cries pretty much non-stop.  Getting her family's laundry done is at the bottom of her list of must do's when she can barely set her baby down. Additionally, this friend has no family in the area. The difference is, I made a specific offer and would not have been shocked if she took me up on it.  From now on I know to phrase specifically how I envision helping or I will keep my mouth shut all together.