Advent 1: Still waiting...

Chris and I thought we'd get ahead a bit last week.
We had a couple of hours before I was due at the church,
so off we popped to our local Supermarket.

With list and vouchers for extra points we were on a roll!
Toys for the Toy Appeal.
Stuff for the Christmas Services.
Presents for the volunteers.
We were dead chuffed with ourselves.

Until Chris was transferring stuff from the trolley, that is.
To cut a long story short,
the next few hours involved blood and bandages,
glue and steri-strips,
and a couple of hours at A and E.

The boys all reverted to type.
Joel came to meet me to take Chris to hospital.
Ryan stayed at home as he has history with blood and stuff,
but phoned when I was nearly home and was ready with a hug and a cup of tea.
Nathan dispensed hugs too, and uttered the immortal words
"Do we need a chocolate run?"

 I sat at home and waited.
Still.
Trying not to dwell on the fact that this is the worst possible time for 
Chris to be injured;
How would we manage if he couldn't drive?
Who's going to do the cooking?

And why do things happen like this, when I'm doing so well?
My brain doesn't have much space to deal with the unexpected.
It clicked into overwhelm and the tears started.

The truth is, that's life.
In the big scheme of things it was trivial.
Is trivial.

Once I'd taken time to breathe a bit, it was ok.
Chris was ok.
We were ok.
Nothing was as bad as it first appeared.
Life has a way of sorting itself out.

As for the orange supermarket who had no first-aider on duty;
left Chris to clear up his own blood;
and kept him waiting for ages until
someone not a million miles from this keyboard asked if they could hurry;
they promised a follow-up phone call.
We're still waiting...

'And he shall be called Immanuel. God with us'

Comments

Unknown said…
Glad all is well x
Christmas can continue!
6 December 2019 at 19:14
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

20 years of ministry

I hadn't realised it myself. I'm not very good with dates, and years, and anniversaries. But yesterday my Facebook Timeline was full of it. It's 20 years since we were commissioned and ordained. 28th May 1993 at The Royal Albert Hall, London. As I listened to 'Our Songs' The ones written for us, and for the occasion I became a bit nostalgic. As I looked at the video And saw my friends and colleagues I almost felt a pang of grief For the people we were The things we shared. But this is a letter to the 25 yr old girl I was then From the woman I am now "You made it! By the skin of your teeth at times but you got there in the end. And this ending Full of brass, and drums, and singing and laughter and drama and dance is just the beginning. In the years ahead you will know joy Real joy Laughing so hard no sound comes out. Friendships that are only in their infancy here Will become your anchor in the days ahead. And people that ...
Read more

Five Minute Friday: Song

Image
It's our Silver Wedding Anniversary on Tuesday. 25 years. I told someone the other day and she gasped, and said, "You don't look old enough" Which is absolutely the right response. We're having a few friends over next Friday night to celebrate. There will be food And dancing And fun And song. 'Our song' to be precise. As we met in the 80's, Our song is 'Solid' (Ashford and Simpson). It's the song we used to dance to at parties. It's the song that made us laugh. It's the song we always talk about when reminiscing. Our 25 years together hasn't been perfect You won't be surprised to hear that. There has been much joyful song. But sometimes the notes have turned dischordant. Sometimes we've sung in a minor key. More recently we have sung songs of lament. But to mis-quote Gloria Gaynor We have survived. We're still standing (Elton John) And we're still singing from the same hymn ...
Read more

STOP! Look and listen.

I helped at Nathan's Christmas Fair yesterday. It was packed with excited children and exhausted parents, so pretty much business as usual. Do you ever want to scream STOP at this time of year? Enough. Too much already. Mum, my sister and I sorted out Dad's things on Tuesday. As we filled the car with bags for the charity shop it felt so final. A person's life contained in a car-load. STOP. Enough. Too much already. Today has been a better day. The sun has shone. The sky turned a brilliant blue after the snow showers. And I had a lovely coffee with Chris at the Garden Centre. As we were driving back I remembered the Advent challenge I gave our congregation a few years back. It came from the carol, 'It came upon the midnight clear', And the challenge was to 'Hush the noise, ye men (and women) of strife And hear the angels sing.' Or, STOP. Look for the reality of His presence in the madness of Christmas. Listen for Him. His ange...
Read more