There Is A Time For Everything

The Here and Now

We live in a beautiful spot and I look forward to the weekends when we will be able to explore and enjoy - just as soon as I feel like I am getting on top of school work - which  is not yet. Although I have taught for so many years, this school is new to me. It has different routines, different expectations and different students and parents. Having said that, although we are unique, there is nothing new under the sun. There is nothing anyone can say or do that hasn't been said or done before (Ecclesiastes 1:9,10) and that goes for students and their parents. This is not a bad thing. For me, it is quite reassuring as it means that lessons we have learned in the past, can be applied now. If that doesn't make sense, I'm not going to elaborate or else it will become too 'deep'. And I want to enter another area of depth....

As noted in my last blog post, Dave's father passed away last week. This morning, very early our time, before even the sun was up, his life was celebrated by family and friends in the US. Someone posted it to YouTube so I got to watch it. Dave's dad was a godly man, a man of integrity and people shared how he had touched their life. Dave's eldest son got up and spoke since his dad couldn't be there. That made me cry. It also made me smile as James recounted a memory of his dad and also shared that Dave had respected his dad, my father-in-law. 

I looked through photos, trying to find one of Dave's dad that I could share on this page. As I looked through them, it brought back a lot of memories. I first met Dad at his 90th birthday celebration, just over 6 years ago. I also met the rest of Dave's family. Only 6 years ago?! So much  has happened since then. Back then, I had taken a short video clip of a salmon farm and it showed salmon trying to swim upstream and trying to jump over obstacles in their way. I was reminded that sometimes we need to be like the salmon and swim against the tide - just like Dave's dad had to do at times. 

I thought of how we celebrate the life of someone who has passed away. We did the same for Dave back in 2011 and my family did the same for my mum back in 1999. When it comes to grieving and 'how to' grieve, I don't think there is a standard way to do it but it is important to acknowledge our loss and recognise how that person impacted our life. When my mum passed away, my son was not quite seven years old and yet he seemed to know how to grieve. He wanted to be able to say goodbye to mum before she passed away and he did. A few days later, after the funeral service, my sister found him crying in a corner and hugged and cried with him. When he was ten years old, a friend of the family was helping him clean his room and came across some Autumn leaves and suggested throwing them out. Nathan replied that he wanted to keep them as he'd picked them up with Nanna on their walk around the lake. 

Sometimes we need to be open about our grief and pain and not try to keep a stiff upper lip, especially with our closest, loved ones. This week, I've been engaged in teaching and trying to keep up with what needs to be done and in the back of my mind, has been the loss of Dad. At the same time, we've been here for not quite 3 weeks and are adjusting to a new climate, new lifestyle and needing to make new friends. Being here, means also we had to say goodbye to friends at our last place and that is a 'loss' too. We also still haven't been paid our bond back and I don't get paid until the end of next week so we've had to count every cent and that's been stressful. 

During PD week, we were asked to think of a time when we were very happy and what the circumstances were around that. For every happy moment I thought of, it was also tinged with hurt. For example, if I thought of a happy time with Dave, I also remembered that he passed away and I came back to Australia. If I think of this beautiful place that we are now living in, I am also reminded of the place and friends we left behind. So, to be honest, this weekend as I dwelt on the mixed blessings, I grieved. This took Andy by surprise as I had tried to be positive, keep it to myself and had not really shared with him what my state of mind and heart was. 

Well, time to be positive again and look forward to the week ahead with my lovely class. Even though I've had to work hours outside of school time, I have enjoyed it. It is a lovely school to be at and my colleagues are helpful and friendly. Andy and I are in a good place to be. 

Ecclesiastes 3

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Another time, Another Place
Montana, USA