11 November 2012
Guy Fawkes Night
I am in another period of change and transition. Neither is easy but both are necessary...
Currently I am dealing with new relationship, new duties and a new place to live.
Winter is coming on here and I have moved back into the kitchen. All the volunteers left last Tuesday and the atmosphere is quite different. We are going within for winter.
My first three months here were an amazing time. I absolutely loved working in the kitchen. It reaffirmed how much I enjoy creating and sharing food with people. Moving into the craft room had its moments too...there was more guest contact and I had some really lovely conversations. It showed me how important it is for the guests to recognize the staff members and more than once I saw how my story could inspire. Sometimes it's difficult to see what amazing things you're doing when you are in the centre of it all.
Now, for a time, the guests are gone and I am enjoying a more homey, intimate existence. I have moved into vollie accommodation in the village where I have my own room for a time! I almost don't know what to do with my own space! I'm also in the midst of trying to plan yet another holiday and not sure where to go. Again, where do you vacation when you are living where you normally travel to? It's sort of surreal. And let's not forget that for the first time in 34 years I will be away from my family on Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.
With all this also comes the knowledge that my time is running short. I really had hoped that I'd have some sort of inkling about what to do next. I'm trying to trust that the best is yet to come. I hate to think I came all the way out here to re-boot my life only to have to force myself back into a pattern that wasn't working. Iona has given me so many gifts that I want to move forward with. I cannot go back.
So I have begun a daily process of letting go. There seems to be a sort of give and take with my life recently. After all, we can't hold on too tightly to things because if they are meant to be they will come to or with us. It is an extreme lesson in faith, trust and most of all...love.
XO