Laying Down

I sat next to a lovely guest at lunch. It's my day off. I don't go to meals with guests on my days off. I did today. This lady that I sat next to is a Quaker. One of about seven we have here with us in the Abbey for Christmas week. Inspiring.

We were chatting away and I was being asked all of the usual guest questions about what brought me to Iona, what do I do here, what do I want to do next, how old am I, what do my family and friends think of me being here, what is good and what is bad about living in community... However, although these were the normal questions I've got so used to answering this year, this conversation was different. She cared, massively. Not that other guests don't care, but this was deep down care. She was interested in all I had to say, and would put a new twist on my life for me. Not a twist that annoyed me like some, but a twist that intrigued me.

When discussing my job as Hospitality Team Support Worker and the trials and joys that it has brought in 2010, and then discussing moving in to my job as Abbey Housekeeper come January for 2011, she said something that made me smile, that reassured me.

She said something along the lines of "it's all about laying it down, not throwing it away or dumping it or forgetting about it, but laying it down gently and moving away and moving on as you can".

Just what I needed to hear. Laying Down. That's what I need to do.

I don't need to put 2010 behind me or put Hospitality Team Support Worker behind me; I need to lay them down. The handover of my job may take some time and it may cause some personal trials along the way, but if I gently lay it down I will be able to do it. I will be able to comfortably hand my beloved job over to a completer stranger and take over a job from an amazing friend. I won't throw away this job and shake the new one. I will lay this one down and carefully pick up the new one.