What Can You Do?

        Someone is dying. A link to me that has been lost, but nevertheless this is a wound. I've met a hero in this. My son. This one in the hospital bed is his father. A distant father, a now-and-then father, but his biological dad non-the-less. This man now lays moments from the end, no longer able to speak or move without help. Morphine is his friend now as he waits out these final moments.  And because I believe, it is my relief that he has made his peace with the Lord, forgiving, accepting forgiveness, calling on help only He can give.

Now we wait.

        There have been heroics. I've seen my adult son become a man in ways he never expected at his young age. In the last seven days, he's learned a new vocabulary with words like, "notary, power of attorney, living will." He's had to talk about last wishes and cremation versus burial.  Upon hearing of his father's illness, he jumped on a plane within hours and flew across the country to arrive at his father's bedside the same day. Since then, he has nursed him round the clock , mostly sleepless- feeding, toileting, making use of his medical training. He has made dozens of phone calls to arrange appointments and take care of business matters. No easy task, as this is an angry patient, a self-pitying patient. I've only heard my son speak words of encourgement and prayer to his dad. My boy has shared his frustration with me, but not in a complaining way. He only feels sad he cannot help his dad in more ways. But he's been a champion to me. He's living Matthew 25: 35 - 40, where it says:

        ^"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

We wait.

Just Moving Along

If there is anyone out there that has been patient enough to tune in once again, after my rather long absence from this blog, God bless you!  I have been remiss in the writing department. I was aghast to see that I have not blogged a word since December, as if life was suspended for all these weeks...

So here is the lowdown. I've been doing so much and so little of any consequence at the same time. The tedium of the same old, same old,  hunts me down. I'm busy enough, dashing about like the proverbial chicken sans head. Accomplishing little, but fulfilling the duties required of teacher, wife, daughter, mother, friend.

In the midst of the duty calls, I have found two exquisite delights - tuning into  Downton Abbey and watercolour painting. The first requires no effort at all, just a good beverage, an empty house and a comfortable chair. (My husband and I succumbed to an attack of the flu over the holidays and said very little except, "Want to watch another one?"  Good friends had leant us the first two seasons of Downton on DVD and we were hooked.) What is it about this series that is so enthralling? For a period piece, sumptuous in its attention to detail in attire and setting, it moves rather quickly, as each episode leaves you hanging. Favourite characters are cheered on in their challenges as either the ridiculously privileged upstairs-dwellers, or their wonderfully loved and understood servants on the lower floors.  What I love about the whole thing, is that living in a country with very little class structure, it is so curious to me, this great divide. This line of thinking is so distant from small town Canada. Yet, the beauty of Downton is that I can feel empathy for those sitting at table and those waiting behind it.  People are people. I look forward to each new episode. If you do tune in, check out the first 10 seconds. There is a shot of a dog's behind walking toward the castle...it is just plain clever.

Mr. Carson, my most favourite character...