the jesus no one expected

Here’s something I never understood:

My great-grandmother’s wake is today, which is what conjured up this thought.

I never understood what people meant when they say to you, “If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.” What does that mean? People always say it when somebody dies or something bad happens.

Does that translate to: “If you would like a shoulder to cry on, please use mine.” or does it mean “I can do something for you so you can spend more time grieving.” Which is it?

At first I thought it might have been the first thing, but I wasn’t sure. I feel like the people who say that to me are usually people that I’m tight with, but not super tight. Does that make sense? I don’t know.

But whenever someone says it to me, I always think the latter of my two translations. When someone says that to me, I immediately think they mean, “I’m sorry for your loss, would you like me to go pick up your dry cleaning?”

Though, that’s probably not what they mean. Not at all, actually. Probably. But I don’t know.

So, I suppose I will use today as a small social experiment. Someone will likely say that to me and my response will be: “You know, man, actually there is. The last thing my great-grandma said she wanted to do before before she passed was clean out my garage. That place is a mess. What are you doing this weekend?”

I’m anxious to hear their response.