Ship Life

Strange community this

One where strangers from all tribes and tongues

Somehow morph into family that you can’t imagine leaving

Engine hums and ocean waves rock you to sleep

Captain’s call and noisy pagers rouse you

Neighbors live in the bunk below you

Conversations are clearly heard through the walls

Meetings, meetings, meetings

New friends just arrived as others leave

Day trips to the beach, bargaining for transportation

“Hibernating” to avoid the noise or the people

Showing up to movie nights with your pillow and some popcorn

Laughing ‘til your sides hurt at a joke you can’t explain

Phonecalls home at midnight hoping someone will answer

Conversations twisted by culture and language

Fishbowl life at it’s best and worst

A stairway away the wards clamor with people

Tiny babies strapped to backs with any scrap of material

Crutches and walkers clatter through the halls

Mamas sleeping under the bed

Magnets holding up curtains, IVs and diet signs

Day workers playing Jenga with bandaged patients

The beauty of whiskered babies showing off their grins

Hands reaching, grabbing, wanting to be held

In a hundred languages “sister, friend, nurse, aunty” can be heard

Miracles seen in the wounds that heal

Rejoicing with tears as the hearts heal as well

The drums begin to pound and your heart sings with joy

As the patients that have become friends pull you in and dance

This place that melds so many cultures, but has a unique one of it’s own

That sits on the cusp of Africa but never truly is Africa

This place that break your heart and mends it

Again and again

And the thing that pulls you through is Faith.

Mustard seed of faith that grows and stretches you into more

More than you ever thought you might be

Different than you first imagined

Roots reaching down and forever changing your heart

Until it wants to burst with this unexpected love for those around you

Branching out, strengthening, standing tall

Until you realize that weakness is a strength

For strong branches are the ones that break under the stress around them

The weak branches bend and there is your true strength

Learning to be weak enough to let God bend you

Even though what you want most is to be strong and tall

Learning to sway in the winds of change

Learning that loving means letting go

And that being a family of the heart

Is still a family, even when you part.