It has begun! This morning (Saturday) we started the process of sorting out our belongings. Quite a heap of paperwork has already been burnt. How much we’ll end up wanting to ship home, I’m not sure. That process, too, has made headway this week as we’ve accepted a shipping quote.
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After my ankle injury at the end of September I decided it had recovered enough to try a short run of only 2 km this week. It wasn’t a good idea as the swelling increased afterwards. Nonetheless progress is being made and almost all the discomfort has gone now.
With no runs since the end of September, my level of fitness has fallen dramatically, despite a couple of hard sessions on our exercise bike.
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Our local eatery, the Sweet Spot, has a small book exchange library; bring some books you’ve finished with in, and take an equal number of new books away. Nicki and I have both been reading more than for a long time in recent weeks. John Grisham and Kathy Reichs thrillers have been particular favourites, the former with dramas focussing on the American legal system, the latter on forensic anthropology, the author’s speciality. Her books are the basis of the TV drama ‘Bones’.
I’ve just finished reading John Grisham’s book, ‘The Chamber’. It’s a fascinating and gripping story about an old man, an ex-KKK member, in Mississippi. It sounds like a morbid tale, and maybe in some ways it is, but it is very thought-provoking and extremely well-crafted. Highly recommended.
A few weeks ago I read a Clive Cussler thriller, having seen them on book stalls at airports. It’s an inferior version of James Bond, poorly written with an unbelievable story line. I will not bother with another of his books. Highly unrecommended.
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On Monday the three days of pilots’ meetings begin. I think that I’m mostly ready for the sessions that I’m leading, apart from finishing off the morning devotions which I’m taking. Usually I’ve asked various pilots to take these, especially ones who aren’t responsible for any other sessions. This time, as it’s my swan song, I thought I’d like to do them myself. I hope that they are helpful.
The whole of this week was spent in the office and it has been a useful time. Thursday and Friday became difficult days for all of us when we received news that the son of our Maintenance Controller (who is the person responsible for scheduling all our maintenance and ensuring that all service bulletins, airworthiness directives and so on are complied with, so a critical role) had been diagnosed with acute leukaemia.
Brian, the young lad affected, and Becky, his mother, were in Brisbane where the diagnosis was made. They headed back to the States as quickly as bookings could be made so that treatment could be started as soon as possible. Clay, with the other two children, Seth and Taylor, follow on Sunday.
They are obviously reeling with the suddenness of everything: the diagnosis, having to leave at very short notice, the unknown future. At least the doctors say that it is a form of the disease that has a good response to treatment, but it is still a long road ahead lasting for months.
In the meantime, everybody here is reeling too. Clay and Becky and their family are very popular. I worked a lot with Clay and really appreciate him as a person, as well as a technically excellent professional, extremely good in his role. Of course, nobody knows at this stage what the likelihood of them being able to come back is. It probably errs towards the less likely than the likely.
It’s the sort of event that makes the other demands of daily life, the frustrations, difficulties and so on, seem incredibly trivial. We all know there is no answer to the question, “Why?”. That is never anything that we’re able to know. The one certainty is that rough roads are not walked alone and that Jesus will be alongside the Walter family. Clay’s faith and conviction of this is very evident.
On that rather subdued note I’ll end for this week.
