The good and the bad

Yesterday, almost three-year-old MsX and her parents came to visit and…

She played at sending cars down the gutter we keep behind the sofa for that very purpose, seeing which was the fastest;

I read her Dogger by Shirley Hughes;

Dave fixed up water play outside for her with the same gutter, and with boats which slid down it when you poured water behind them;

We picked a plum off the tree for her and her mum;

We came back inside again and played with the Fisher Price house and people, putting them to bed, giving them breakfast, taking them to the playground in the bus. They needed duvets so we raided my patchwork drawer, and then we didn’t have enough beds so I emptied the matchbox by the fire and we used that;

Dave came back inside and he read Dogger with MsX (currently the book du jour);

And so it went on, and finally it was time to go home and she didn’t want to go and said so, and I didn’t want her to go and didn’t say so.

This morning I was lying in bed dozing, and thinking about yesterday and all of our grandchildren and remembering playing with them when they were small, and I felt happy. 

Cece, me and Lux, 8 years ago

Then I sat up and read the news and felt awful.

Another war crime in Gaza. 

More poisonous anti-refugee rhetoric. 

More empty space from Starmer.

Dave says I should be disciplined and not read the news if it’s going to make me feel so low, but that’s not the Quaker way.

In our Advices and Queries book, number 34 reads…

“Remember your responsibilities as a citizen for the conduct of local, national and international affairs. Do not shrink from the time and effort your involvement may demand.”

When I was about 8 I had a book called Brave Quakers. 

I found it again when we cleared my mother’s house. The story-telling is really dated and I wouldn’t want to read it to kids today, but some of the (true) stories are inspiring. 

There were twenty Quakers arrested at the last big Palestine Action demo. They are braver Quakers than me. And even if being arrested for terrorism would not bar me from visiting our American family, I don’t think I would do this. I am not a brave Quaker. I am pretty much a wuss.

Picture captured from Instagram