Yesterday was a full day – full of grace and love and support – but I did not want to be at the hospital. Not one bit. Each thing that i had to do felt too much. That makes everything harder. I had a CT followed immediately by an hours MRI then home via Dorios for lunch 🙂 then back for an x ray and meeting with the surgeon. Genny is a miracle worker and was able to re-arrange our schedule on the fly so that we were unloading at home before our last appointment was scheduled to start.
it took me a long to unwind when i got home. At 5:00 when it was time for evening prayer i was still wound tight as a clock. In evening prayer I was given a word of the Lord via Richard Wagamese and his tremendous book Embers. This was the gift:
I no longer want to be resilient. I don’t want to simply bounce back from things that hurt me or cause me pain. Bouncing back means returning to where I stood before. Instead, I want to go beyond the hurts and darkness. The first step toward genuine healing from my mental illness was when I came to trust and believe there was a beyond. Now I reach for beyond every day, in every encounter, in every circumstance. I seek to go where I have not travelled. I wake with a vision of a purposeful day, filled with adventures and teachings. Then I take the first step and try to make it beyond.
Dear Sheilagh,
I love your eyes and the quiet intensity I warmly recall from our conversations, joyfully engaged and totally focussed on our moment. You know how to take n give a mean hip check playing street hockey. coulda been you taking that impossible shot, then Jesus saves. Or was it Phelan in net?
I miss your hugs.
Dianne n I await news of our youngest Clarissa giving birth to our first granddaughter any day.
I’m going fly the kite you gave me tomorrow. Thanks again for your work bottling jars of honey (taste n see the Lord is good, happy are they that trust in him) n for the time you looked after Nicholas at Dianne’s sister Catherine’s wedding- thunderstorm that day and you brought juggling balls.
Think we met your sister Genny once. Awesome about the care n support, putting up with you.
Just watched Netflix The Healer: Bed, bath n beyond.
Hug the Lord and our little Andrew for us.
Blessings, peace, rest,
Love from Kit n Dianne
In tears! I have this quote posted by my computer. Richard brings me much comfort at the most “interesting” times. Richard, my friend, my relative, the writer of beautiful human words. So glad he brought some good words to Sheilagh in her last days too.
I had the gift of meeting this first class human being at an event at All Saints in King City several years ago. Her upbeat attitude and zest for life was profound. We meet again when she officiated at my good friend and former high school teacher Ruth Hogg’s funeral. Once again her attention to each of us made a sincere and meaningful connection.