lifelong knitter: The JOY of Service

In the Service of Compassionate Devotion...
the kiddos and I will be totally filthy, deliriously happy, and TIRED by the time this day is through.
We are going to dig holes, plant trees, haul rocks and spend the day building Eden.
Seriously. go HERE.
My name tag says that I am the Master Gardener in charge of supervising the planting process. (giggle)
Uh-hunh. Whatever. It is a selfish pleasure I indulge myself in....
We are helping to realize a long, deeply held dream. This is a Retirement Center for clients with developmental disabilities. Privacy concerns keep me from posting pictures here, but hopefully I can paint a picture with words of the joy and delight we experience.
There will be a pond, and a fountain for the sheer sensory delight of the sound and visual stimulation of moving water. A working greenhouse where Horticultural therapists , Physical,and Occupational therapists can work on motor skills and Living skills in a practical, natural setting. Clients can have their own gardens, and already we have some resident wildlife....birdsong and tree frogs, crickets and owls are much preferable to the sterile institutional drone of air conditioners and the endless ticking clocks. Therapy animals will make regular visits and hopefully we will have some full time animal residents.
Dignity is the basic premise here. We still have to meet all of the Code Requirements and yes the paperwork is extensive and seems endlessly frustrating at times....but anything worth having is worth working really hard for...and I am Oh So excited about this project.
It is the same indescribable JOY I experience when I teach developmentally disabled people to paint. They approach the process with such childlike delight and positively revel in the colors....the adults with "normal syndrome" who take up painting usually come with all kinds of baggage about oh I'll NEVER be able to do this, I'm not an artist, blah, blah, blah.....am I using the RIGHT green to paint that grass.... THESE folks shriek with delight when Ms. Greta hands them a brush and three colors....and their Paintings...OMIGOD, their Paintings make me weep. Rainbows and sunsets and flowers....a dog they knew as a child. If only I could paint with such freedom. I always learn so much more from them, I almost feel guilty. ALMOST. I refuse to buy into that nonsense. It is a two way street ,this journey of JOY, and although my traveling companions may be the very people you cross the street to avoid looking in the eye...they see YOU.
May your weekend be blessed with JOY and compassion.

xox