Loading...I had said ten days or a year ago that I would blog daily. Well, that didn't happen. My typical schedule was up at 6 a.m., breakfast at 7, off to legislative sessions of the Program, Finance, and Budget committee (which I wasn't on, but had chosen to "shadow," till 11, then legislative sessiond of the House of Deputies til 1, then grab a bite of lunch and caucus with the rest of the delegation (to review what we had learned that a.m.), then back into House of Deputies session from 2 or so until 6. Oh, I left out worship, which usually happened in the hour before lunch. Most nights there were legislative hearings from 6 or 7 until 9, so any kind of a sit down dinner was after that....which made 6 a.m. the next morning come all the quicker. Do that for 7 or 8 days in a row, and it becomes a little, um, hypnotic, or at least it did for me.
Other odd points--I had never used a "mobility scooter" before, which was a hoot and then some. First time in the last three years I could go so many places with pretty much impunity (unless they had stairs). I loved it, loved having rented it so I didn't have to transport it from Kville to Indianapolis and back, but as I feared I used my legs so little that they're noticeably weaker now. Oh well, back to the gym.
I said I would be curious about what struck me the most. Frankly it wasn't the issues--same sex unions, budget, structure, open table, etc. It was the worship services, filled to overflowing with music and poetry. Here's a sample, read to us as an opening meditation on day 5 or so:
Beannacht / Blessing
by John O'Donohue
Original Language English
On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.
When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.
May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.
