Homebodies - Going to Portage for parts

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Published on Sunday, June 28, 2015

By Rita Friesen

I deliberately chose to travel down highway 16. I wanted to note the progress on the construction and I had all the time in my world. Three pilot vehicles later. The first smile came when I started counting the blue or tan portable toilets dotted the roadside. As many as there used to be grain elevators!   Not nearly as impressive but just as necessary. 

The second smile came more slowly and was more contemplative. This isn’t the first time that I have been without a partner. I served my time as a single parent years ago. Then, any piece of quiet was a gift to cherished and prolonged. That silent time too often was the last hour of a busy day, and that is were my tendency to be a night owl took seed and flourished. I got to thinking that it is a very good thing that I like who I am, I spend a great deal of time with me! My thoughts flit and fly, sometimes soaring to theological heights, sometimes mired in the mundane. 

The theological this trip was a wondering. Back in the Book of Acts, the disciple Peter was asked to go and share the good news of the gospel of the risen Christ with the wider world. He struggled with the assignment, for many of their customs and foods were abhorrent to his early years teaching. In a vision, he saw a sheet lowered before him containing all these taboo foods, and a voice from the heavens chastised Peter – do not call unclean the things that I have made clean. To make sure that Peter understood this vision was repeated three times. My wondering asked me what things would be in a sheet that the Divine would challenge me to rethink my attitude about. I have some ideas for me, but there could be as many correct answers as there are questioners. Mundane thoughts: do I really need winter tires this year? Should I bring clothing for warm weather or cool when I go camping? Or to be safe some of both?

Then my thoughts drifted to the people that have influenced me. I was watching them when they had no idea they were setting a high standard for me to follow. And it humbled me to think that perhaps there is someone watching me. It is almost 30 years ago that the individual took the high road in a relationship. I witnessed the courage with that person faced life and the dignity with which life was conducted. This past month I was able to, in a very small way, express appreciation for the inspiration and guidance that the individual had offered. That smile lingered for a distance.

At times the radio was on, at times I tired of the noise, and travelled in the silence of my thoughts. And I gave thanks for the path that I have travelled and the friends that I have made. 

And it looked like going to Portage for parts!