Last Tuesday I headed off to see my dad in hospital once again. I drove this time as now my dad is in the Panteg hospital public transport is inadequate. That seemed to suit me better. Certainly not being in Newport or Cwmbran where there are so many people was less depressing I think. I also listened to music and not the radio so much, which may have helped. There were a lot of nice little providences on the way too.
I've been having some problems with my ears recently but as I entered Wales my ears popped, which was nice.
I also arrived just after my dad had woken up and he was having a good day. I was able to chat a little and we read to the end of Mark Chapter 5 and I prayed.
Just as I was ready to go my dad's face brightened. It was my eldest niece Vicky. It was nice to see her and to see how positive she is with my dad. She kept supplying him with fruit pastilles and seemed to communicate with him better than I could, although sometimes she failed too. She has done a lovely drawing of my dad. I must get a copy. It was a reminder to me to be a bit less negative. I think I get a bit nervous, which doesn't help.
Then after the hospital visit I saw a post office and popped in as I had a parcel to post. There happened to be a second hand book shop there. I glanced to see if they had Joseph Heller's Catch-22 as I have been looking out for it recently. And there it was! A snip at £2.99.
Then on the way home I arrived at a services, bought a coffee and saw someone I thought I recognised. "Peter Fearnley?" I asked. He knew who I was too, which was good. We overlapped by a year when I began at Aber and only know each other a little. He is a member at the Grace Baptist church in Yateley. He had been up to WEST to give a lecture on education. Well, we had a lovely chat for half an hour or so. It especially encouraged me when he mentioned how he had gone to Aber a nominal Christian and heard the gospel through my father-in-law. Also, how he and his wife Wendy have been involved in the young people's work these many years.
Of course, not all providences are so nice. I manged to smash the tail light on the car at one point - a reminder not to suppose I lead a charmed life.
When I started recounting these visits to my dad I had assumed it would not be too many I'd be recording but I note that this is the seventeenth visit now. May be there'll be quite a few more, we'll see.
Tuesday was the tenth anniversary of my mother's death. It was in my mind throughout the day. I couldn't talk to my dad about her but I enjoyed listening to the Kinks' "Thank you for the days" (which I thought was a bout a dead sister but may be not) and noticed there was an article on mothers in The Times, but I didn't get round to reading it. It strikes me that one feature of family life is getting closer and closer to people only to have them taken from you in the end. Hopefully my dad will be the last. There are no guarantees. So much for my plan to be more positive.
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