Neighbour

 

     We just doubled our flock size with about forty more brown hens. They are good layers but sort of uniform and boring in their appearance. We already have an assortment of different looking chickens; a few Australorps, Araucanas and Americaunas that we've hatched out ourselves. The new brown hens had not seen anyone of a different colour before and have been pecking at these "outsiders" since they arrived just over a week ago. Without our old rooster Kermit to keep the peace I marveled that even in the world of poultry, it is difficult to love our neighbour.
     We've been talking at church about loving our neighbours. "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself". It is part of the Shema or the second of the greatest commandments, quoted in several places in the Bible and one of the central tenets of both Judaism and Christianity. And with all this talk of refugees and immigration in the news, a very timely subject. I do not pretend to know all there is to know about this heated and divisive issue. As immigrants ourselves my family of origin experienced a life that could not be had if our parents had stayed in England; loss of immediate contact with our extended family, everyone and everything that was familiar was the price that we had to pay. Some immigrants and refugees do not have as many options nowadays and the price tag is much higher.
     Unfortunately life is not as simple as it is in the chicken coop where a little more hen scratch or a kindly old rooster can usually settle the score. Our pastor reminds us to lean into God and listen; find out who our neighbours are and pray for them. We hear and read that Jesus declared that loving God and loving our neighbour was all that mattered and so the answer there seems fairly simple also. As a member of the human flock, I choose to believe in love.

BUILD

   

     Our older daughter's life skills program started last week and she is truly enjoying it. She finds the respectful and positive atmosphere refreshing after her high school experience and enjoys being treated like a young adult. The acronym BUILD stands for "Building Upon Individual Learning and Development". The streams of learning include: Life Skills, Employment, Transportation and Health and Wellness. With half a dozen young people in the program and a teaching ratio of 3:1, our daughter already feels comfortable with everyone and is happy to be involved. The staff are young, caring and patient women. There are trips to the library and local businesses, opportunities to practise a variety of skill sets like taking the bus or shopping out in the community and an upbeat and cheerful group of peers around her, so our daughter feels fortunate to be part of it all.
     She is now nearing eight months of freedom from seizures and anything seems possible. We are not sure whether she outgrew the seizures, the meds are now working, there is less stress in her life or our prayers have been answered. Any way you look at it we are blessed! I remember looking at other people's Facebook pages and being envious of their child's "One Year Seizure Free" status. Maybe it could happen to us!
     

Bus

     Our younger daughter has been making use of her Compass card, accessing public transportation with friends and making her way to the bigger malls adjacent to our community. This has gone well until when on the bus the other day, she caught the eye of a beer swilling fellow who thought her brief and polite acknowledgement of his staring at her was an invitation for further contact. This was a guy who was probably in his thirties; our daughter though tall, is obviously fourteen or fifteen years old. After pawing furiously through his over-sized lunch box this man produced a scribbled note which our daughter refused to accept. He was a stranger after all. He then dropped it into her lap and then jumped off the bus at the next stop. The note contained his name and phone number and instructions for our daughter to "text me QT". Such a poet.
     Needless to say, my husband and I were appalled. Fortunately there was an older gentlemen on the bus who witnessed this exchange and expressed his dismay with the episode. We are obviously not sure if this guy had had a few too many and was not seeing straight or he actually believed that our daughter might follow up on his invitation. Unfortunately after this experience, she will probably not be inspired to make any kind of eye contact with anyone on the bus ever again, which is a loss for everyone. Needless to say, I have retained his contact information for future reference. Next time someone a little more his age and a lot less cute will certainly be texting him back.