Reflective day

I spent today at home. I was not feeling confident enough about my new "plumbing" to be out in public and thought it would be good to work from home. I had a district nurse coming to see me anyway. 
Life is an interesting journey...

• I texted a friend who lives with a catheter and bag and told him we could now compare notes. In it I said, "Life is a strange journey". He came back with, "The journey is strange and tough but has its rewards." Tonight he texted me asking about my first day.
• I had morning tea on Monday with a friend and his wife. He is well retired now but told me the story of his life, a bit about his childhood, and the journey of choices, decisions and events that led him to do the job he did and to be living in Dunedin. Looking back he commented that it had been an interesting life, but often tough on his wife. We were intrigued with the directions our lives had taken us.
• I was lying on the bed and a doctor and medical student were working on putting the catheter in. I think to distract me from the unpleasant realities of what they were doing, they began to ask questions about my job. "How long have you been doing it?" "When did you start?" etc etc. I told them that I began as a plumber. I told them that I had installed some of the plumbing fixtures in that very room, and that if they opened a cover on the wall they could see other big pipes I had installed. "That's quite a change of career." one commented. "Why did you change jobs? What made you do that?" How do you answer that deeply spiritual question while you are lying on a bed, with your private parts exposed and your listeners are working on them? Could I explain a "call"? How do I share the inner journey that led to me taking on ministry? I just grinned and said, "It was just something that I felt I had to do." "Huh" they responded.
• My daughter had on her facebook page this poem which rang bells. As I near the end of my career I often find myself asking... "How did I get here?".

 The Girl --
One day life stands
gently smiling like a girl
suddenly on the far side of the stream
and asks

(in her annoying way),

But how did you end up there?

-- Lars Gustaffson

There are nice people

I have found once again there are a lot of nice people around.

• Emails have come in from friends in Ireland, Australia, Wellington wishing me well and passing on love.
• The doctors and the nurses at the hospital and the District nurse and her student today were genuine caring people.
• I have received support in texts and through facebook  and phone conversations, so as difficult as I may find it to adapt to my new circumstances, I feel like I am not in it alone. 

People are generally caring and thoughtful. Love is alive and well on planet earth.