My Sabbatical

Many years ago, when I was a teenager, I read an article in a magazine written by an elementary school teacher. She asked her students (Grade 1 or 2) to write something about their grandparents and how they impacted the lives of their grandkids.

Many of the stories were typical.
"My grandpa always gives me peppermints."
"I like making cookies with my grandma."

But one story was different. A little boy wrote about his grandma and how she was funny, how she read stories to him and how she reprimanded his father. He talked about visiting her house and being allowed to touch all the interesting objects that she had. He mentioned how much she loved her family, and how much she loved him. He talked about the many people who came to her house daily to visit with her.

This may not seem like such a unique story coming from a little boy but what made this unusual was that the teacher knew that this boy's grandma lived in an iron lung for 23 hours of every day. No mention was made of the iron lung in his essay. It was as if he didn't see it.

This story was such an inspiration to me. I seem to recall that this grandma was happy, had a great sense of humour and was very involved in the lives of her children and grandchildren.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. How does someone who is virtually paralized and who remains in one place all the time feel value? How could she come to terms with the effects of polio in her life and still embrace life and feel that she had an important part to play? She certainly impacted her little grandson and I would suspect many people. She sounded as if she enjoyed life and was happy despite her challenges.

Every now and then, I think of this story and this grandmother. She is probably dead by now but she impacted the life of a little boy. I'd love to meet him now and hear his memories.

My hope and prayer is that I too may impact the lives of the people around me and not allow the things that I think are insurmounable (my self imposed iron lung) to keep me from living a full life.

This post is entitled "My Sabbatical." Since last fall, I have stepped back from the work I had been doing at the church. I have decided to take some time to consider what to do with the rest of my life. I don't want to be 80 years old and feel that I've wasted my time because I've allowed fears, insecurities and other things to stop me from doing what I was created to do.

The woman in the iron lung inspires me. If she could live what sounded like a full life, engaged with her family and her church community while being confined to an iron lung, I think I can too.