Singing Clowns and a Dancing Nun

Today at work there was a retirement celebration for one of our chaplains, Sister C. And at the end of the ceremony, our in-house clowns (yes, we have in-house clowns) stood up on stage and led all the attendees in the hokey pokey. There we were, a room full of mostly adults, singing and dancing the hokey pokey together to celebrate this incredible woman. 

It's moments like those that make me realize how lucky I am to work where I do.

Joyful Girl

the bathroom mirror has not budged 

and the woman who lives there can tell 

the truth from the stuff that they say 

she looks me in the eye 

and says would you prefer the easy way 

no, well o.k. then

don't cry

-Ani Difranco

The Gift of Life

As I type this, there is a 5-year-old girl I know who is receiving the ultimate gift - the gift of a heart and of a new life. And as her family rejoiced at the news that a donor had  been found, another family grieved for the loss of their loved one. 

Please keep both families in your thoughts today. 

For more information on organ donation, please visit http://www.donatelife.net/.

Worth the Wait

She wrote to me one night in early January, asking me for advice on what to wear. She had three dates that week and needed advice from an expert. Having been on many online dates over the past few years, I shared my "expert" advice and wished her luck.

Even in that first email - the one before they had ever met - I had a feeling. He liked PBR. He was funny. He could write good emails. And she was excited about the date. She never got excited about dating. Not like that. 

I crossed my fingers and waited. A few days later, she wrote. One guy was sweet, but not her type. One guy was nice but seemed to be a bit of a stoner. But there was one - the one she had hoped would be as good in person as he seemed online - who was worthy of a second date... and then a third... and then a forth. 

And then we all met him, and we knew. He was The One. This was It.

It didn't take long for them to realize it too, and this past weekend he asked and she said yes. 

Congrats to MK and O'G. Your kind, generous, loving souls are undoubtedly meant for each other and you are proof that true love is definitely worth the wait.

Change

It's not that I haven't wanted to write, it's just that I haven't been sure what to say. 

The past 6 months have presented me with some personal challenges, and though I've never been shy about sharing personal bits of my life on this blog, these challenges have involved other people and have made the sharing a bit tricky. I want to write because it is therapeutic for me, but I also want to respect the privacy of these people I care about, even though neither of them reads this blog.

The short version is that there was a friendship that was dissolved and a friendship that was rekindled. Two different friendships, which means that in addition to regaining a friend, I also lost one. It's been hard for me to write about, because it's been hard for me to accept. This was a relationship that I had thought was one of my strongest - a person whose friendship I valued very highly. And in the end, there was no fight or discussion or explanation, this friend just faded away. It was unbelievably sad for me, as there was nothing I could do to save it. For a long time there was a big hole. Now the hole is smaller, but there are still days when I see something that reminds me of my friend and there's a pang of sadness that hits. I still hold out hope that someday this friend and I will reconnect, but I've had to learn to live my life without this friend in it, and that has taken some getting used to.

The friendship that has been rekindled is also complicated. We were friends, and then we weren't for a while due to scheduling and other commitments. And then I reached out and so did this friend, and now we're back in touch and in each other's lives perhaps even more significantly than we were before. Conversation flows, there is unconditional support, and I am so glad to have this person back in my life... except that this friend is moving in a few short weeks, and even with phone and email, I fear that I will be left with yet another hole that will be hard to fill.

Change isn't bad. I know the friend who is moving and I regard each other with a significant level of respect and trust and appreciation that distance should not impact. And I know that the fact that I have lost this other friend does not take away from the many fun and meaningful times we had when we were in each other's lives. With change comes new opportunity, and hopefully growth. But despite knowing all that, I can't help but wish for the good old days sometimes - the days before things changed.