In one’s own bed

It is certainly nice to be back in one’s own bed again, without anything pressing to do once awake. However, that was not quite the case this morning as I had to rise early as had a nurse’s appointment in town at 9am. The drive is 35-40 minutes away and there were one or two things to do beforehand so as much as I would have liked to have gone back to sleep after waking at 4.30am, I didn’t. Still, it was nice being home again and lying awake for that couple of hours before rising.

The visit to town was a quick one and having a 9am appointment meant there was little wait. We went to visit some friends afterwards but as they weren’t home, decided to return home ourselves. It was a beautiful sunny morning, the first sun I have seen for several weeks, after missing the glorious sunshine on the weekend, due to being indoors. On our return, Stephen managed to mow the lawns and I sprayed the troublesome kikuya, and now we have a free afternoon. Black foreboding clouds are back again, but these have pretty much become our norm of late and if it does rain again, it doesn’t really matter. The washing, that had sat for two days on the line, is now dry, the lawns are mowed and the spraying done.

That last job is one I would prefer not to do, but it so much easier to take care of the kikuya that way than trying to constantly pull it out. It is invasive and aggressive up here and with no frosts to speak of, no way of naturally dying off. It is well adapted for survival too, being able to send its shoots several centimetres underground. When we farmed, kikuya was one of few grasses that provided feed for the stock during summer droughts, so it does have its uses, just not in an urban garden.

Stephen and I have just commented to each other how tired we feel now. I think the weekend has caught up with us both. I was certainly concentrating on practising my speech and making sure I had everything I would need for the trip away so the preparation had taken quite a bit of my energy. Even though I only spent 10 minutes with each person over the weekend, several of their faces have popped into my mind and I have thought of the various messages that came through for them. Before we started the event, we were told that many people were coming for healing and that proved to be correct. We don’t know what is behind that tired smile or those dreary shoulders when we interact with another, but we must remember to be kind, patient and tolerant. One never knows, it might be our smile or kind word that makes that person’s day or even week.

We all want the world to be a better place. It doesn’t take much to offer compassion to another. Let’s remember this.