A Favorite Card From a Friend

"I'll collect my tatters, the perfect pieces of me, and notch them together in an informal pattern just to suggest myself. Then I can start the welding process, and in a short breath, I'll be fine."

She is me...refusing to surrender to what life is trying to do to her. Thankfully I don't have to be the one to notch and weld my tattered pieces into a functional whole. We have a God who specializes in holding us together and fixing what's broken. Lately, I'm trying to let Him do just that...

Quote For The Day...

Do more than exist; live.
Do more than touch; feel.
Do more than look; observe.
Do more than read; absorb.
Do more than hear; listen.
Do more than listen; understand.
Do more than think; ponder.
Do more than talk; say something.

~John H. Rhoades

All In A Days Work

"We must learn to see with other eyes. The world contains many paths, some exalted, some mundane. It is not our task to judge the worthiness of our path; it is our task to walk our path with worthiness." ~ Kent Nerburn

Last November I got a call from my friend Eileen. She knew I'd been looking for a part time job and had a lead for me. "Ruth, I know this isn't something you'd normally consider doing," she began, "but my grandma and her 86 year old boyfriend need someone to help them run errands, cook meals, bring in mail and paper, and take out trash - stuff like that. Don't decide now, just think about it, ok?"

She knew me. She knew that I detested being trapped by these mundane tasks at home and to take on another shift of them elsewhere? Doubtful. Yet some gentle nudging (like a quick look at our bank account) caused me to re-evaluate what I was willing to do for a paycheck so I went to check it out.

Dave is a retired WWII pilot, civil engineer, fly fisherman, woodworker (and on and on) with a genius IQ and a lifetime of amazing stories to tell. Gaby is a loving and fiesty woman with fire in her sparkly eyes and deep dimples in her smooth, rosy cheeks when she smiles; which is quite often. Especially when sitting across from her sweetheart and listening to his stories earnestly, like she's never heard them before. And she hasn't. Oh he's certainly told her - over and over - but she doesn't usually remember because she battles with dementia. So they have a fairly predictable pattern of conversation. He likes to tell, she doesn't remember, he likes to tell and she's hearing it for the very first time...and so on. A perfect fit, actually.

Dave's mind is one of the sharpest knives in the drawer. He still works part-time from home, orders their groceries on-line and keeps a schedule on his PDA, but his body struggles to get where it wants to go. Gaby gets around a bit easier but her mind is failing her. Both love each other like crazy...and both needed someone to assist them in order to be able to stay together in their home.

That someone was to be me.

I could easily go on and on (and I usually do) about the blessings attached to what I do each day. Some are tangible and some just go straight through to the heart. One of the "perks" (as Dave calls it) is that when there's a doctors appointment or errand to run, going out for lunch is usually part of the plan. But not just any ole' lunch mind you. "There is a difference," he says, "between eating and dining." Well, we definitely dine. A round or two of drinks (Of course I'm the designated driver), A wonderful main course and always our own dessert wherever we go. I have come to treasure sitting across from these two remarkable people and am continually blessed by the rich wisdom and experiences they share with me.

Needless to say, I've gained a few pounds since meeting Dave and Gaby. I like to think most of it is not because my body is getting bigger, but because my heart has gotten bigger. Sure there are days when I get tired of cooking and doing laundry for two households, but I'll forever be grateful for the day I stepped outside of myself and into a job that is proving to be anything but mundane.