"We Are the General Girls"

Regina General Hospital and Nurses Residence

Each year we gather, still standing although our Nurses Residence and Hospital are gone with the tick of the clock. Vanished into a parking lot. Our numbers have gotten smaller with the passing of time but we are still laugh, visit, reminisce, and sing. Family stories have become histories. What once was career, advanced education and travel, is now full of grandchildren and great grandchildren, nephews and nieces ~ ~ and travel. At the end of our gathering each year we sing our school song: “We Are the General Girls!” some voices not quite as strong, but all still full of the joy and hard work of our nursing years.

“Our fingerprints don’t fade from the lives we touch.”

~ Judy Blume, author

At the End of the Day

The story we tell ourselves 

at the end of a day can be 

our saving grace. 

Where was the bright spot 

in the day just passed? 

That one flicker that filled 

a moment or an hour 

with joy and excitement 

to feel the goodness of others 

or the warmth of the sun after a rain

or the broad smile of the girl at the till.

Yes they pass as each moment passes, 

but the memory remains to shine 

in darkened corners at the end of the day.

“At the end of the day, give up your worries 

and give thanks for the journey.

~ Ben Vereen, actor

Out of the Dailiness

Entertainment for us comes in all forms 

  ~ a walk in the park on a gentle evening 

        to flickering characters on a screen, 

 time travel between the covers of a book

  the slap and cheer of hockey or soccer

fingers caressing the octaves of a piano, 

 or the swirl and twirl of a waltz……

Each of them directing us 

  out of the dailiness of life 

and into joy, release and fun.

“Once a person has all the things they need to live, 

everything else is entertainment.”

~ Neal Stephenson, author

A Next Good Moment

Caring for the hope 

I have in my heart 

helps me to find 

slivers of joy in each day. 

For joy is often in-glorious, 

but is aroma of good food, 

   the kindness of friends, 

      the feeling of soft grass on bare toes, 

         a babies gurgling laugh, 

           the rhythm of well loved music. 

When I add up all these sparks of joy, 

hope is restored to know

there is always a next good moment.  

“I inhale hope with every breath I take.”

~ Sharon Kay Penman, novelist

(1945 ~ 2021)

Progress, Not Perfection

Listening to the news, 

or a talk show, or seeing ads 

for the latest technology, 

I am stunned. 

How did all this come about 

    and why? 

The answers are 

   in the ‘cloud’. 

Up in the air or 

    deep in the ocean, 

so no more questions. 

What I do know is that 

miles to distant family are shortened. 

Coming from pencil and paper, 

a telephone on the wall with 

a long coiling cord on a party line, 

to a hand held phone and 

a vast array of technological devices 

is a joy, a tool, and an electronic 

encyclopedia of knowledge;

not to mention the threat 

of being tossed away!

Can we use our joy and 

the work of our lives to 

keep technology in its place?

As a tool, not an external mind?

“It was one thing to use computers as a tool, 

quite another to let them do your thinking for you.”

~ Tom Clancy,  The Hunt for Red October

Revelation

 

How does one live a full life?  

The spaces of home can feel empty, 

when plans have gone awry,

the fullness flown away, 

as deflated as a party balloon

energy sapped.

But joy has only hidden for a moment. 

When the quietness of the day 

offers a notebook to write upon

a sock monkey to make

a fresh salad to enjoy

a nap to slip into

music to colour the quietness

How does one live a full life?

Grasp what is present 

Sense it, lean into it and just relax!

“How we spend our days is of course, how we spend our lives.”

~ Annie Dillard

Legacy

It’s in our roots

A tree barren of a life 

that waved in the wind, 

branches stiff and cold;

saddened when a full life ends

but the joy I feel with 

new exuberant growth

brings me comfort.

“One must have roots to bloom, sprout, grow and branch out.”

~ Jeffrey G. Duarte, author

In the Quiet

In the quiet of the evening 

it is possible to conjure up 

all manner of 

troubles and worries 

just as 

it is possible to conjure up 

all manner of blessings and joys

To choose which of these is good, 

is seldom difficult 

when we set such a choice in front of us.

“I was quiet, but I was not blind.”

~ Jane Austen,  Mansfield Park

Splash!!

 

“Catch me, Grandma!” 

With my arms open, 

ready to catch a 

flying, screaming 

and laughing child, 

I was drenched, afloat and happy. 

There is nothing so joyous as grandchildren!

“Grandchildren are the best reminders 

of the beauty and innocence of childhood.”

~ Nana Mouskouri, Greek singer and politician