She who Walks With Purpose...

It's possible that if I had been born in my native country hundreds of years ago, my name might have been She who walks with purpose.

One morning the 9 volunteers, Wayne and I were talking at breakfast about the events of the night before.  The volunteer dorm was full with 1, 2 or 3 people in each room.  During the night there were the usual snores coming from 2 rooms, but additionally one volunteer had a cold and was coughing off and on and another had a stomach bug and was vomiting.  I was awoken by a chorus of sounds…. gastronomic retching, nasal inhalation and deep hacking.  Tossing and turning and finally falling to sleep only to be awoken once again by another noise coming from our connecting rooms.

It was these sounds that spawned the amusing conversation the next morning as the volunteers were called-out trying to decide which sound came from which room (or mouth!)  As it was determined that my room was quiet that night…the conversation turned to "What is Melinda's “annoyance?”  After much deliberation, Gail finally said that the pounding of my feet on the tile as I walk from my room (on the very end of the dorm) to the other end is quite loud (I walk quickly) thump thump thump thump one way and then thump thump thump thump back the way I came…like I walk with a purpose….not really an annoyance, per se, but something that I could join the rest of the group in.

Joking aside, I did notice over the next few days how quickly I seem to walk when I am alone and have a purpose.  Usually I have a child or often many hanging on me or just holding my hand and I am forced to keep a slow pace with them.  I try to live in the moment and to the best of my ability, I do, but perhaps my moments just go by quicker than most?  I have tried for years to ‘relax’, but I have finally given up and I decided there will be a time in my life when I either need to, or am physically forced to do so…but that time is not now. – I actually tried to tippy-toe past Gail’s room a few times, but then laughed at myself and continued on...thump thump thump.

For the time being, I’ll just have to be content with having the children slow my stride.