Calm Saturday

It has been a busy week. Healing of eye from cataract surgery (going well, nearly 2 weeks now), replacing sedan with a mini van so Rocky can get his stuff to art shows and we can move the newspaper more easily, Arts Council board meeting with some key people moving in and out of our team, a busy time for the Park District, city staff and Chamber of Commerce. All in all a busy week within a packed summer.

So here we are on a Saturday. The heat has vanished. It is 56 degrees at 5 AM, high is forecast for 78. Clear skies and lots of sun. A day that seems ready for fall! And it is a relief following a very hot and dry summer. We have had rain enough to keep things green and fresh. Flowers, shrubs and trees are billowy and healthy. The yards are good; the landscape views refreshing.

So an AA meeting this morning, hopefully a reunion with a long absent member of the tribe, and some personal intervention and counseling to help her  She has escaped an unhappy home and relationships by traveling the West; recently found her way back to Illinois. Still very troubled. She reconnected with me because she claims there is no one else she can turn to. Is that accurate? Is she that alone?

I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist so don’t know the protocols that may be of assistance to her. Family have turned her over to hospitals and other confinements. What can a layman do? How can we instill hope and future in her life? And if that fails, who failed? Is this a condition of the illness? A flaw in her character, or mine? I understand why others have resorted to third parties. Even those who claim to have loved this person in the past.

So a meeting at 8 AM, hopefully the reunion, and then a ride back to her safe place. Maybe a late breakfast or early lunch shared slowly so we can talk. Restore some calm in her life. Bring back some connection to caring people. An ear open to her cries. A mind resilient to her needs for comfort and reassurance.

Still there is work to be done. Mostly hers. An effort in which she tentatively touches order and calm; logic and fact. Reality is so evident around us when we see clearly; but obstructed by so many distortions of context. We see what we want, hear what we want, and feel what we may. Reality is only restored when we let it and discipline ourselves for it. Not easy work. No sir; not easy work.

For this good soul, she will need to truly want the calm and the serenity in order to journey on to a better way station in life. I’m not sure I can help her with that. But I will try. Besides, the journey is mine as well. It restores strength to me as well as to her.

Reaching out and helping another is both refreshment and development. Not a bad deal at all! And such a reward!

August 11, 2012