Sounding Board

My older sister is a retired nurse and Care Home administrator. She has a natural talent for working with people, so volunteered for a position as a grief counselor. It was interesting listening to her on the weekend. She needs only to be a sounding board, but in so doing provides a therapeutic service that is invaluable to those who are grieving. It was not coincidence that she told us about her experiences because only a few days later I was called to give an estimate for an elderly lady living a condo building near here.
I no sooner walked in her door when she sat me down and pulled out a torn page from the local newspaper. "Do you know any of these people," she queried. I recognised it as the obituary page from this week's local newspaper.
"As a matter of fact, I do," I said. I told her a bit about two of the people pictured on the page.
Then she told me that the first one on top, on the left was her husband. I was taken aback. Why would a widow of only a few days have a contractor come into her house to make a plan to disrupt her life for a week?
I was not in a great hurry so I sat and listened as she poured her heart out. I could write a very lengthy blog post regarding the conversation we had, but I did sense after an hour that I had provided a needed service, above and beyond giving her a price and a plan for re-decorating. Indeed, most of our time together was an opportunity for her to pour her heart out. There were tears and words of encouragement and as I was leaving, she thanked me profusely. I thought at that moment that one hour with that woman was more productive that the previous month of work.