We are fortunate enough to have a very large lasagna community of support. Probably the strongest of that kind of support comes from our church choir. When my husband was in the ICU, they literally brought over lasagna (and chicken pot pie and hamburgers, etc.) for several weeks every night to be sure the boys were getting meals and I didn't have to worry about at least that one thing in my life. If we don't need that kind of support, they are still there to listen and pray and just be there if that is what we need. We are very much a family in our choir, supporting various members through job loss, surgeries, cancer, death, etc. In addition to the church choir, my coworkers are marvelous sources of support at work. In a few cases over the years, they have just told me to go, take care of myself or my family, and they stepped right in and made sure my classes kept going. As they always remind me, they collectively have hundreds of years of experience; they can figure out what to do with my classes in an emergency. And of course there is my family itself -- both immediate and extended, we are a family of acceptance and support in every way we can possibly be for each other.

For a while in my life, I had isolated myself and wasn't utilizing the support of my church or my coworkers. I was caught up in my own depression and fears, and forgot that there is really nothing more important in my life than relationships. That really was an error on my part and made life much harder than it needed to be. I am so glad that I finally took the risk to rejoin those groups socially and emotionally because their support is integral in making it through life's stresses.