Two wishes, two very different lives

I had a day, as I do sometimes, that covers the breadth of our county.  It has been full of people and two poignant stories. 

This morning, I swam at the gym and the pool was filled with retired folks who do laps so effortlessly.  It seems so to me anyway.  I love that I can be in that sapphire pool and swim laps with folks who have been doing so for years.  They are not spring chickens.  And, I have to stop and breathe at the ends of the pool but they carry on with grace and with a gentility that I admire.

The woman next to me today, besides Ms. M. and the kind man who allowed me to share his middle lane, swims with a union jack on her cap.  I pause for breath at the end and turn and watch that union jack approach in the water.  It tickles me.  Today, we chatted a bit before she left the pool and a story about her life spilled out into my waiting heart and mind. 

Today, she told me that her husband had surgery in April as they were about to go on a trip and that has brought their travel this summer to a close.  More than that, her husband's ability to travel is more limited now and that holds regret in its' grasp.  She has a wish, that they had done more earlier in life when work kept them busy and putting off  what they would be able to share as they retired.  Now, that may be very different for both of them.  To me, I felt the yearning of someone who I often admire and just liked so much.  She was, the first person to welcome me to the pool this winter and it helped me overcome my shyness and just get in the pool.  I have swam in rain, hail and sunny skies and she is the one who generously offered her encouragement.  And so, I felt her sadness, though held in acceptance of what life has brought since April and always with her former British sense of strength and courage.  I hold her wish as a treasure today.

This afternoon I drove to Forestville to volunteer at Food For Thought-a food bank for people living with HIV.  It is a dynamic, fun loving, kind, generous and compassionate place to be and I love being there.  The food bank has a store front with a slick produce case and shelves displaying items for the clients to choose.  In the back we have grocery stock, a walk-in fridge and freezer.  We breakdown items for the clients including produce, meat, poultry, eggs and fish.  It is a thriving place and the kidding and spirit of the volunteers and staff is like nowhere I have ever been.

I always take a break at about three and walk over for a coffee and cookie.  My friend Mr. P. and I used to do that and I miss him.  He got a job and he really loves the people he works for now.  I am happy for him and I miss his dark humor and wonderful wit and stories. 

At the end, about closing time, one of the volunteers told me a story about his daughter and his wish.  He is a man who cared for a man who was dying. When the man died, he lost someone he was very close to, and a job and a place to live.  Perhaps this is what I see in my fellow volunteer. It is grief and  I just did not know until today.  He told me a story about his daughter letting go of her profession of over a decade and traveling to South America.   He expressed to me his wish to visit the country that his daughter finds compelling. This is a place he has been dreaming of for some time. His daughter seems to be welcoming him into the pool and he seems ready to cast off his grief and go for a long swim.  I am holding his wish as the second treasure shared with me today.

May the world find peace tonight and may we all find ways to swim and rejoice in the water's baptismal.