When one is chronically ill, and a friend wishes to help her, the first thing that comes to mind is to bring her a meal. In fact, since the most popular gift to bring is a meal, I wrote the book, Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend to get people to think beyond food. Having said, that, however, a meal is a gift of comfort. And even though we may be physically able to cook, it takes a burden off of us so that we can use the energy we would have spent cooking doing something else. I have discovered that many people who cook for the chronically ill are actually ill themselves. Though it is easy to understand new mommies and those who have just had surgery are in need of meals, those who see a chronically ill … [Read more...]