Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Life Or Something Like It

The hardest times I had living at the Ronald McDonald House were Sunday nights.  If anyone had come to Memphis to visit for the weekend, they typically left Sunday afternoon so they could be home for work the next morning.  Besides this, Sundays at home were always busy days because we went to church on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights, so being there with nothing to do was hard.

Every time Sunday night rolled around I would feel terribly lonely.  Sometimes I thought about going to a local church in Memphis, but Emma's blood counts were too low to go out without wearing a mask (which she hates), and we were there for about a month and a half in the winter months, so it was dark by the evening services, and I didn't feel comfortable driving in a strange city in the dark.

The Window in the Chapel
So Emma and I would walk.  We had an umbrella stroller with us and I'd push her through the halls of the great big Ronald McDonald House of Memphis.  There was a chapel there, with a piano.  I'd always stop in the chapel and play the piano (not well, mind you!).  I'd think about all the people at choir practice at home at that very time.  I'd think about how they might wish they were home, because they had a million things to do.  I'd wish to tell them how lucky they were that they could do something as gloriously normal as go to choir practice on a Sunday evening.

Even typing this post I have tears in my eyes, because those Sunday nights were SO HARD.  Sundays might not have been that hard for everyone--I don't know--but I'm sure there were hard days for everyone there.  Likewise, there are hard days for people everywhere, every day. 

My challenge to you today is to be thankful for the normalacies in life.  You never know when you might not have them!

11 comments:

  1. Very true, Katie. Thanks for the reminder.

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  2. What a heart felt reminder :)
    I've a friend that has a little boy that practically had cancer since he was born. Seven years old now and cancer free...it was a tough battle. My thoughts and prayers are with you!!!

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  3. Thanks for stopping by, Maryellen. I love hearing about other kids who are doing well!

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  4. I leanred this lesson too when I lost my mom to cancer; it was in that loss I realized how precious life is, and all of the little things wrapped up in it. I do my best to remember that daily, but this is a wonderful reminder as well. Thanks for sharing this!

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  5. Mmmmm, perspective! Thanks for the reminder... :0)

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  6. Hi Darian. I'm sorry to hear about your mom. Thanks for stopping by :)

    Cindy, you're quite welcome!

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  7. Yup, we take normal for granted until we lose it.

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  8. Katie, this January I took up a writing challenge called Writing Small Stones. Every day for that month, I'd write a line or two on something I'd observed, just taking things in, like the colour of the sky, or the crisp of the canary's chirps outside my garden, or the jelly sweets my Grandma gave me - these are called small stones. And that exercise gave me a lot of 'normal' to re-notice and be grateful for. There are a lot of normals to be grateful for. Like being here and typing these words to you. And sending a cyber pat on the shoulder. :) Hope your Sunday nights are less difficult now.

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  9. What a great concept, Claudine! And thanks for the cyber pat--always appreciated : D

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