A terrible task

So today, I called a daycare on behalf of a friend who was on the waiting list there. I called them to tell them to take my friend off of the waiting list for the day care, as the baby had unfortunately died. It was such a simple task, and took about 3 minutes. I let them know, and address the refunding of the security deposit. I was actually expecting to be asked what happened, but fortunately (or unfortunately?), the woman who answered the phone was very business-like and professional, and simply said "I'm sorry to hear that. Could you spell the last name for me?"

This task ended up falling to me because this friend wrote on her blog about how she got a phonecall from another daycare saying that they'd gotten in. I think there was a combination of procrastination on her part in terms of addressing the issue -- understandably so -- and there was the hope, the anticipation that if they waited just a little bit longer, they could just ask to change the date that they would need the daycare for their next baby. I know that that first call completely tore my friend up inside, and ripped open old wounds that hadn't really begun to heal anyway. Plus, it came at a time when the amount of time he's been dead has now exceeded the length of time that he was OK. So when she was dealing with the glaring reminder that she'd lost her son (despite the fact that I know that everything is a reminder for her), I offered to call the remaining daycares so that she didn't have to go through that conversation over and over again.

While I can't begin to understand the depth and breadth of her anguish, I've tried to do whatever I can to be there for her through this. And today, that meant calling a daycare to tell them that she didn't need them because she didn't have a baby. It really was an absolutely horrible task, and yet, so simple to do for someone I care about.