Breathtaking

It’s been a while. It feels difficult to catch a breath right now, to find the time to pause and reflect on the journey and journal. I saw last night on social media, peoples reaction to Breathtaking, and knew that I would need to tune in. I watched 30 minutes of it this morning whilst drinking my morning coffee and I felt such a mix of emotions. I made my way to CommUnity Corner with it on my mind and mid morning a woman with little spoken English came to the shop. She’d come for the English conversation classes which start next week. She was a week early, but she’d brought her knitting, so she stayed and I made her a drink. There were other women crafting so she joined in. Two of her daughters came to say hello too. One was at college and one at school. We chatted, and the eldest daughter told me of her dream to become a doctor. She was repeating her A levels to get higher grades. A levels in a recently learned second language is some accomplishment. ‘I want to be a doctor like my Father,’ she said. I noticed her eyes fill with tears and her chest tightened as if she was telling herself not to cry. ‘He died of Covid working in the hospital in Albania,’ she said. She and her sister stayed for a while, and then left. Their Mum stayed, right to closing time, knitting. Helped by google translate we managed to learn about each other and share photographs of grandchildren, her husband and his grave in Albania. She agreed to teach me some Albanian in the future when she’s polished up her English and share her knitting and crochet skills with others in the local community.

After the shop shut and all was quiet, I decided to watch the end of Breathtaking before heading home. After such a human and relationship centred afternoon I was struck by the smell of ingrained systemic corruption of those in positions of power over. I’m not sure what the future holds for us all, but I know that I feel something deeply in community that offers some light and hope. A faith in that we are becoming, if only we can let go.

It’s funny isn’t it, that this happened today. There’s a lesson in there that’s yet to reveal itself.