I left work early last Friday – a tad after 4pm – and drove straight towards the A25, the Barton Highway. After a couple of stops at Gundagai and Euroa to refill and for toilet, I got home to Vicki Street just after 11pm. It was very good to be home again, and be with Tress and LBJ. Kiddo had woken early on Friday morning to say goodbye however, and as always, it was a blend of pain and gain. As is most of life.
We didn’t do much over the weekend. The weather was typical Melbourne winter. It rained all day on Saturday and was cold. Canberra was apparently just as cold as it was on Friday, so I was glad to be in Melbourne for an additional reason. After a home brekky we just milled around and watched a movie on Netflix (Mel Gibson’s Patriot) at home. Then it was lunch at Madam Kwong’s at Box Hill and some shopping at Westfield Doncaster. We then headed back home to continue with Patriot before heading to Forest Hill Chase around 6.30pm to watch Jurassic World, which was a bit of a return to Spielberg’s swashbuckling days of old. He was executive producer and his Amblin Entertainment made it and his fingerprints were indelible across the movie. We couldn’t work out if the GM’ed dinosaur or the T-Rex triumphed in the end (I thought it was the GM thing). It was fun however but we finished the night by rounding up the last 20 minutes or so of Mel Gibson’s aged Patriot.
Sunday it was church and the sentiment was that of a “back to MY church” sort. It was a local mission theme, with school holidays program (“Going Bananas”) starting today. Mavis Payne preached and it was good to be taught the importance of bringing Jesus to the people around our daily lives. In some ways I hadn’t viewed 1 Peter 3:15 through that lens before (as opposed to an apologetic reasoning lens). The local Federal MP, Michael Sukkar, visited and Peter gave him some time on stage for a short interview. It was good to see honest responses, including a brave declaration of support for traditional marriage.
After church it was back to Madam Kwong’s again for lunch before heading back home to pack to return to Canberra. I left Vicki Street around 12.40. That blend of pain and gain made its way to my emotion again as I pulled out of the driveway and waved goodbye to Tress and LBJ. Not long after that Kiddo rang, said it was still very cold in Canberra and my thoughts were a blur for the next hour or so. I had the St Kilda v Essendon game on the radio but other than picking up how the Saints were surging ahead towards a huge lead, I wasn’t following the game.
My mind was meandering its way past a maze of thoughts. Tress, Vicki Street, LBJ, Kiddo, Australia Post, National Blood Authority, St Alfred’s… The challenge is to embrace the present, which includes this very act of walking on this treadmill between Melbourne and Canberra. I remain in this cycle – this roundabout – without an exit in sight. Maybe it’s simply a season of not settling. It could be simply a time where I cling on to this swinging pendulum. Embrace the swing that is the present season. Enjoy the oscillating between the two cities. Where and when it lands, settles, exit and how that ends – that can all happen when the Lord decides it’s time.
Tress rang not long after I finally left the traffic of outer Melbourne and started to cruise the Hume. My hazy maze of thoughts faded away. I listened to the game, wondered how Essendon gave us (Hawks) a close game last weekend and appear to fold so badly a week later against a bottom of the ladder team. I was still about maybe 4 hours from Canberra. It’s a long drive in this roundabout.
Ante 