Sister Margaret

I was not given a slip for this woman. We got in the van with Jim we were going to take home first. She was in the front seat. He was in the back. It was a quick trip and we were all quiet for the five minutes until we arrived at his house. I let him out with the customary procedural farewell. And then she and I were off.

“So, good morning.” I said,  "What’s your name?"

"I'm a nun.” she said. “Retired."

"Okay?"

"You know what a nun is?”

“Sure.”

“Well, not everyone does.”

“Well, I do and I am not even Catholic.”

“Oh. Good.”

“So, what is your name?"

“Sister. Margaret.”

“Welcome aboard, Sister Margaret, I said, extending my hand, "You are the first nun I’ve met in this space. I’ve met priests and pastors and you are my very first nun."

A few minutes earlier, before we left, and as I was about to leave with Jim, I asked if she was going to wait or did she need a ride. She asked me if I could take her to Pick and Save so that she could shop for groceries.

“Well, we take people home and to work. We don’t really take people shopping, you know, grocery shopping.”

"Well, if you could drop me off, I’ll walk back.”

It’s 45 degrees - balmy for mid-December - but foggy, therefore humid. It's like a long way for a little old lady carrying groceries. How many groceries could be key to this question, but it’s a mile. One mile.

I did say that, if, and I mean if, I was not called to other missions, when she was done I could pick her up. She’s retired as I said. She does have a cell phone but it is not turned on. Of course. 

She never did call and I did not see her the rest of the day. Her car service was to take about two hours. I did ask her why she couldn’t shop when her car was done. She didn’t have an answer. 

And then I have Warren and Trevor on board. Trevor's younger, Warren’s older and they got to talking about fixing cars and fixing motorcycles and stuff way out of my league. I am so happy sometimes when customers can just run the conversation themselves. Warren invited us to take a look at his Bugatti 900 when pulled up in his driveway. Thanks Warren, maybe some other time is what I thought.

People ask about me and my past and this job and I've always said that how I got here had to do with 'I don't have an education' and 'I was self-employed' therefore 'I can't do one thing all day long’.  It’s me making excuses.

This very morning, for the very first time, I'm thinking I had a hand in the co-creation of this particular gig. This is so custom fit for me it's hard to imagine it existed without my own wishes and intentions. Yes, we could make a graph of the days, step by step, turn by turn, or we could begin to see that we got here (yes, you, too) by designing a dance, a tango perhaps, of fate and freewill.

I no longer insist on maintaining the divide or further widening the gap between I and Thou. If I was created in the image of God, who is the creator, then I am also a creator. What do I get when I diminish myself? And I pretty much don't think that God wants anything from me or for me either way. My God does not want. God is not in the state of wanting.

Further, my God also doesn't exhibit other human emotions. My God isn't angry, my God isn't happy, my God isn't smiling to see me on Sunday morning whether I am in the pew or otherwise engaged. (Even so, when I am singing What a Friend We Have in Jesus, I do get a little misty. Can’t explain it. Don’t care to. I give up.)

I spoke with a gal named Lois today; the same age as my mother, Lois. 

“Not many of us named Lois.”

“Yes, I know. Rare birds."

She used to be a buyer at Bucyrus Erie. In one of the high points of her career she went out to a mine site in New Mexico and actually sat up in the operator seat of piece of equipment that she purchased. She’s not yet been to the Bucyrus Museum. I talked it up a little. I could see a little gleam in her eyes as she remembered the good times.

I was taking her to the nursing home where she had to do some paperwork, as power of attorney, on behalf her sister with dementia. It was some kind of emergency change of residence that seemed to be under control. The last five years have been nothing but trouble for Lois. One big thing after another and she named many of them.

But she keeps it all under control with gratitude. It is her saving grace. And, so we segued into one of my favorite projects; giving thanks by giving thanks, sharing words of praise and seeking those opportunities first rather than gunning for trouble or having to be right.

I gave her a card. She beamed and nodded her head. I gave her a couple more to share. She said she would not be seeing the caregivers at this facility any more after the next few days and she did have people to thank. And she started with me.

When she was done with the paperwork she would walk the mile home. Same day and another old lady walking a mile in the balmy fog.