Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
A busy day
It’s my usual getting up time, around 5:00 or 5:30 AM. I can’t seem to break myself of that habit, but it works well for me because I am a morning person. As the day moves on my energy wanes. Today is not the day to run out of gas in the afternoon. I have places to go and people to see all day.
I start with my 12 Step meeting, where I am assured of having a learning experience about reasonable and prudent ways to exist in the world. There is so much wisdom around the table that I am eternally grateful to my friend Rose for dragging me to this meeting four years ago. The transformation has been both subtle and powerful and worth every hard lesson.
One of the things that has happened as a result is that I recognized how I had disappeared on a friend of mine when we got back to St. Louis. We re-connected briefly then I got involved in a series of activities and neglected to call and keep up with her. She declared a moratorium on our friendship and I let it go. Shame on me. Time has passed and I really missed our previous relationship. I took a chance and reached out and I got a cautious reply via text. I sent her a written apology for my disappearing act and asked if we might try getting together. It took several months, but after my meeting we are going out for lunch. This is a reunion that I look forward to.
Later in the afternoon there is another reunion happening. Six of us who were in nursing school together are going to have a pizza party. Now, we have known each other since we started at Deaconess School of Nursing in 1970. Despite scattering to the four corners this little group has kept up, especially in the last decade. We have met in Florida, in Nashville, and here in St. Louis. We figure at our age we can be telling old nursing school stories and not mind that we’ve heard them countless times before. A couple of women travel from out of town for these reunions, one from Florida, one from Nashville, and one from Washington, DC. There is lots of laughter and wine and detailed stories that only nurses can appreciate because they often involve bodily functions. We call ourselves the “Deaconettes”.
I can only stay for part of the gathering before I go to my last occasion – a Board meeting at my church. I am new to the Board and have a lot to learn. I have been on church boards before and learned just how complicated it is to run a church. The pandemic hit us hard and some members have moved on. The church building isn’t ancient, but it has its share of building issues. The solution to such issues usually involves spending money, sometimes a lot of money.
A church is totally dependent upon contributions from its members. During the pandemic, when the church was closed, our contributions dropped and so did our reserve funds. The Board’s responsibility is to figure out how to navigate rough patches like this one. That’s how we will spend several hours tonight.
As I write this I am filled with gratitude for the various activities that make my life so much richer. Even though I am a classic introvert, I depend upon my activities to keep my brain and soul engaged in living with purpose. That matters to me.