So it's already the 3rd October. On the 1st I hugged and waved off the last of 11NG's lovely students, and, after a thorough handover, walked wearily and sadly out of the door for the last time. I squeezed myself into an overladen car and drove off to my new home for the year. Since then I have been unpacking, settling in, sleeping... and spending quite a lot of time in Greens' café, using their free Wi-Fi, as there is a fault on the line which won't be repaired until Monday.
My last few days at 11NG were a hectic whirl of last-minute packing, sorting, 101 practicalities and the all-important bittersweet goodbye events, all interwoven with a potent blend of love, humour and underlying sadness. And grace, quietly ever-present, but so surely moving among us, befitting a house which has been under the patronage of Our Lady of Grace for well over eighty years. So what with all that and my post-move slump there's been little time to even begin to process things, let alone write a coherent blogpost.
So I will use someone else's words. In March, after we were informed of 11NG's closure-to-be, we held a house meeting at which grace abounded. Yes, there was pain and anger, but grace prevailed: a quiet grace born of empathy and solidarity, in which we pledged not to waste any of the time at 11NG left to us, but to really appreciate and make the most of it as much as we could.
The following morning, whilst rootling around in a cupboard, I noticed this picture. I had seen it, glanced at it, dozens of times before, but that day something made me look at it intently. That day I needed to see it and read the message it contains. It spoke powerfully of what we had decided the evening before, and has continued to speak powerfully of how I - we - have sought to live the intervening months... and how I would like to live the time ahead, with all its new challenges, graces and beginnings...
My last few days at 11NG were a hectic whirl of last-minute packing, sorting, 101 practicalities and the all-important bittersweet goodbye events, all interwoven with a potent blend of love, humour and underlying sadness. And grace, quietly ever-present, but so surely moving among us, befitting a house which has been under the patronage of Our Lady of Grace for well over eighty years. So what with all that and my post-move slump there's been little time to even begin to process things, let alone write a coherent blogpost.
So I will use someone else's words. In March, after we were informed of 11NG's closure-to-be, we held a house meeting at which grace abounded. Yes, there was pain and anger, but grace prevailed: a quiet grace born of empathy and solidarity, in which we pledged not to waste any of the time at 11NG left to us, but to really appreciate and make the most of it as much as we could.
The following morning, whilst rootling around in a cupboard, I noticed this picture. I had seen it, glanced at it, dozens of times before, but that day something made me look at it intently. That day I needed to see it and read the message it contains. It spoke powerfully of what we had decided the evening before, and has continued to speak powerfully of how I - we - have sought to live the intervening months... and how I would like to live the time ahead, with all its new challenges, graces and beginnings...
If you're interested in the man whose words these are, you can read about him here...
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