Oh the joys...

...of community living.

I have often sat and wondered where all my time went. And, last night, it became clear to me...and in a way that I can actually explain in a blog!

One of the joys of community living (and some times, a frustration) is that there are always people around. I have a feeling that when I return to Calgary, I could be very lonely for awhile, as I will not be surrounded by so many people from so many different walks of life.

So, yesterday...started off like any other Tuesday...alarm goes off at 7:10 am, breakfast, followed by community meeting at 7:45 am. My work day began as usual at 8:30, with no real plans beyond work for the day, aside from maybe some time sitting in front of my computer...and possibly doing at least 20 minutes of exercise with Hannah.

However, by the end of my work day, I was signed up to go out for dinner with a group of people and had committed myself to helping Linda decorate the lab and cabin door in lieu of Naomi's birthday on Wednesday. We were set to meet at 9 pm in my cabin.

We left for dinner at 5:30 pm, and checked out a highly recommended burger joint, followed by ice cream. We got back to the ship just shy of 8 pm..."perfect", I thought. Just in time to maybe play on the internet, and sign up for a washer unit, so that I could have some clothes to pack to take to Ghana this weekend. Should be easy enough, I thought. A quick 5 minute stroll up to Deck 6 from Deck 3, and I could be back in my cabin, either reading my book or reading blogs on the internet, and I'd be there, ready and waiting for Linda in my cabin.

Not exactly how it played out. On my way up to the laundry room, I ran into a friend. He hailed me over, so I plopped down in the seat next to him, just intending to do some idle chat, and head right back on my mission. Fifty five minutes later, it is 8:55 pm, and I realize that I have to wrap up our conversation, sign up for that laundry unit like I originally intended to do, race down 3 flights of stairs, and be back in my cabin by 9 pm.

"Not a problem!", I thought...only to be proven wrong yet again. I did successfully sign up for my laundry spot for the next night. But, on my way to my cabin, I went through the dining room...only to encounter another friend...a friend that I remembered I wanted to bug about something. After my joshing ended, he and I chatted for a bit...until I looked up at the clock, and realized that it was 9:05 pm...and I was late to meet with Linda in my cabin!

I quickly excused myself and raced down the stairs and burst into my cabin...only to find out from one of my roommates that someone had come looking for me while she was in the shower. Bummer! I missed Linda! And, now it was my turn to seek her out.

Up and down the stairs I went, to midships through the hospital...I checked out the lab, the dining hall, her cabin, my cabin...and proceeded to do the loop again. On my second go around, I ran into another friend at the top of the stairs in midships. He asked what I was doing...I told him what had happened, talking at 150 miles per hour, none-the-less, and convinced him to walk and talk with me while I continued my search for Linda.

9:45 pm rolls around...and I have all but given up looking for Linda. However, the conversation I had with my friend while walking around turned a bit serious. But, it's really hard to find privacy on the ship to sit and chat. So, giving up on looking for Linda, my friend and I hunted for a quiet place to chat, where hopefully not too many people could eavesdrop on our conversation.

I knew of a few places that are typically quiet and people free. The first place was previously quiet, but by then, there were other people who knew it was a great place to chat...so we went to the next spot. And lo and behold...there was Linda!

We ended up helping Linda with the birthday decorations (she admitted that she was direly in need of it). Half way through it, my friend decided to leave and head to bed. Linda and I headed to the lab and started decorating...only to be interrupted by Ben, another lab technician (Did I mention that Linda is a lab tech, and so is Naomi? We are all a part of the hospital auxiliary team.). Apparently, Ben had been paged, as he was on-call, to find a B + blood donor for a patient that needed a unit of blood before his surgery the next day. Since Ben is fairly new to the ship, Linda started to help him out...only to discover that Ben himself will have to be the blood donor.

So, Linda and I put aside our decorating schemes to help collect the unit of blood. Well...let's be honest, Linda helped to collect the unit of blood, I just took pictures for Ben and provided some moral support. When the unit of Ben's blood was collected and delivered to the ward, Linda and I continued with our decorating schemes.

When all was said and done, it was past midnight by the time I finished all my tasks for a day that started off task-free. And, what should've taken maybe an hour to an hour and a half at most, somehow got drawn out to 4 hours!

I understand how this can be entirely frustrating. Something that shouldn't take so long, magically morphs into a never-ending task here on the ship. But, at the same time...how else would I have found out about someone's story in joining Mercy Ships? How else would I have learned that a friend who came here unsure of what he believed in, accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior over the weekend? Only in community living. And, only in being willing to participate and be a part of that community does it happen.

So...that's where all my time goes it seems. When I'm not being anti-social or overly task oriented...my time goes to into building and living in community. And, I'm perfectly okay with that. :-)