The Journey's the Thing…

I’m off to Sarajevo tomorrow for a couple of days and have been given the green light to stay longer should some cool social activity arise. I won’t push that, but the possibility of staying there until Monday is there. My boss, however, told me that some of her friends are coming in this weekend and she could arrange for me to meet them for dinner Sunday night. That sounds interesting and fun so I will probably keep it simple and come back on Saturday evening.

It is hot today…and it will get hotter. It is about 33*C which is around 91*F (double the Celsius and add 26). The weather for Sarajevo is supposed to be the same this weekend, so I’ll leave my brolly in my apartment.

Today was a good day of emotional/medical support for one of the people we take care of. He suffers from congenital cystic myalgia, which presents itself in tumors all over his body which swell in the hot weather. His father died of this because it was left untreated, and both his brothers suffer from this and other mental and physical disabilities. So we went to the local clinic and waited while the rounds doctor made his diagnoses: some surgery and then biopsy. The people are scared of what might be, so our job is very important. It was joy to see Janet at work, both soothing worry and forcing the mother to stand up and deal with it. Truly a lesson in diplomacy and action. We will find out the news soon enough.

Tonight’s AA meeting will be on the topic of freedom and how once I surrendered to the disease of alcoholism and put the bottle down, I set in motion a progression of recovery that has freed me from my own disabilities . It is my first time chairing here in Me?ugorje, and I am a bit nervous, but we have a script to follow and we only use conference approved literature. I’ll turn the rest over to HP.

More to come…

Johnnyboy

It’s raining again. Again. I mean, it seems to be raining all over Europe. Usually at this time of year the heat would be climbing and the drought would be building. Two years ago it stopped raining in mid-May and didn’t start until the end of September. That’s extreme. Oh well….when it rains it pours. It isn’t cold, luckily, and I think tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, but with all this moisture about, the temperature, even on the sunny days hasn’t topped 80°F.

This is bad for business for the little cafes and souvenir shops around here, whose earnest owners depend upon the summer crowds being out on the street, in throngs, buying up the rosaries, statuettes, baseball caps, and monogrammed shirts that make up the bulk of their stock. With this weather, most folks stay at home, in their pansions or rented apartments. I suppose they watch TV, play cards, read, and do whatever people do on rainy days. Hmmm…it could lead to a small spike in the birthrate nine months from now. Would that be considered the fruit of numerous ‘immaculate conceptions’? After all, the rain weary pilgrims are here for a holy purpose…

My working hours are strange. There are long stretches of doing nothing, then a few days of activity, visits, and picture taking. We seem to be in a lull of sorts right now, with some work, but my boss’s chronic fatigue syndrome is acting up. It comes on quickly, in the middle of work, and she needs to crash. With her other manageable health issues, this increasingly complicates her life. She needs to conserve energy this week, because the primary fundraisers for our work arrive to celebrate the anniversary of the first appearance of the Virgin Mary which gives fame and hopeful fortune to the locals and spiritual solace to millions of wandering seekers. I worry about her, because she is so efficient in her capacity as an aid facilitator, or social work liaison, or whatever you wish to call it, that she does nothing for herself. It is rare that I see her buy something nice for herself. Today we were supposed to find some flowers for her front garden, but she was overwhelmed with fatigue around 2PM, so we went home. So, my prayer for her is some good rest and some time for herself just to be.

I have spoken to both of my sisters this past week as they have both been visiting mom. Mom is doing great and her new doctor has taken her off of some of her cardiac meds, thinking that her heart doesn’t need to work that hard and also some of the meds that her previous doc had her on that were actually hurting her now.

Both sisters are wonderfully impressed with the level of care mom is getting now as well…The women are smart, savvy, fun, and ready to work, not at all like some home care folks that can be dour and all-too-serious.

I just received word that I have tomorrow off…What to do? I think I’ll explore the surrounding town and take it easy…read, get some writing in, get ready for my day trip this weekend…Actually from the way it sounds I could take off tomorrow, but I have to take care of an AA meeting Thursday night, so Friday is still the day I split for Sarajevo.

…I have found myself counting the days until I get home…49

Johnnyboy