Friday afternoon, Sept. 11

I'm baaaack! No I did not fall off the face of the earth or even into one of the manholes during last Tuesdays downpour (although I sure could have!!). I have been pretty sick - I would say the flu. Little did I know the sneezing I did on Tuesday morning was heading for this - just ached everywhere - bones, joints, head. Pretty significant fever for three days and the beginnings of a bothersome sounding cough. Fortunately I was able to sleep and sleep and sleep, have a good supply of Advil and Tylenol, brought along Tom's inhaler (thought it was for Laura, not me!), Garrett and Laura kept me well supplied with water and the food that sounded good to me - plus they stopped and bought some oranges (looked more like limes) and pomegranites. My appetite hasn't been the greatest the past couple of days but I keep drinking! I spent the morning at the Mother House (the sister in charge of the volunteers didn't like the idea that I had been alone so much for the past three days so Garrett came back and got me - I wasn't s0 sure about the idea but it ended up being good) - sat in the volunteer room watching some of the volunteers who were doing "paper work", and sitting in with Mother's tomb, praying. It was nice. Anyway, not that I'm 100% but sure a lot better. So besides me laying in bed wishing I had Dorothy's slippers as I bemoaned "I just want to be home", what has been going on? Well, let me backpeddal quite a bit - back to last Saturday, the 5th, for the Feast day of Mother Teresa (the day she died in 1997). It was my first day of volunteering so little did I realize that the cheese and butter we had with the bread was something special! The entire day was filled with little "specials" - it is a true day of joy and celebration for the sisters. The Mass was beautiful (not that every Mass isn't but there was a procession with the sisters bringing in flowers) - quite crowded. Realizing there are few seats (most people sit on the floor), the room was packed - I'm guessing about 200-250. Our starting time to take off for our places of volunteering was late but the sisters said don't worry about it - it's Mother's feast day! Break time at volunteering had a slight addition also and we were treated to lunch afterwards! Even the patients had a special lunch and they knew why. We went back to the Mother House that evening for a special time of prayer and a blessing. The room of Mother's tomb was just packed - her tomb was covered with flowers and candles. It was all quite moving! I have some pictures of that which I will try to post when one of my assistants is here (ie Laura or Garrett). As lovely as all that was, I was so troubled the next morning as we walked to Mass. Now keep in mind that this is at 5:30 in the morning so many people are still sleeping - as they were that morning. So many, many people on the sidewalk. I mean you just walk around one person after another or you just walk on the street for the many who are filling up the sidewalk. That, together with my experience of volunteering the day before, left me having quite the conversation with God during my walk. I was so troubled by it all but also knowing that He knows all of this and allows it so... Well, from that moment on, God gave one answer after another - the readings for last Sunday spoke so directly to me; I was reminded of the message of Mary to Bernadette "I cannot promis you happiness in this life but only in the next", an article I just happened to pick up dealt with suffering, and the weekly talk given by a sister that evening "just happened" to be on suffering (it was so very good!). Any then I was given these four days to sort of contemplate the whole thing! It's not that this has taken away my questions or the difficulty of experiencing their suffering but it has given me at least a hope of my purpose in being here and a gratefulness. So now on to something a bit more light-hearted (as Garrett said "a little Calcutta humor"). We were walking along to the Mother House on Tuesday morning and passed one of the several areas where there is meat hanging (yes, right out there in the hot India sun!). There was a crow sitting on this one very large slab of meat (don't know what kind of meat it was - definitely not beef) and as he sat there, he was pecking away at the meat. Garrett said "oh, pre-tenderized!" I got a good laugh with that! Well, I'm runnig out of steam and think I need to go back to the room and take a snooze before Garrett and Laura get back from the dispensary (I'll fill you in on that next time). Thanks for the prayers and I continue to pray for all of you!