James H. Bird LCSW•home.earthlink.net/~jameshbird/•404-262-1819

Musings, March ’03

Living and Loving Fully

In my last Musings, I said happiness often results from living life as a series of absorbing moments and from learning to love what you get in life. My running group friend, Bede, epitomizes this philosophy. She’s frugal, but not self-depriving; takes good care of herself, but not to extremes. She volunteers at the prison and zoo and, on an average salary, bikes and hikes all over the globe on mind-expanding R.E.I. trips, year after year. In her late 50’s, Bede is leaving for Uganda as a Peace Corps volunteer. I offer a poem written by my wife for the occasion of our friend’s farewell.

To Bede with Love

Miss Bede’s not needy, she knows how to live.
Her secret to living is always to give.

To church, and to family, to friend, and to stranger,
If fun’s to be had, she’s the town’s great arranger.

She roams to all climes, across every ocean.
Seeing new sights is her fervent devotion.

Her cats and her dogs are her home’s biggest feature.
By the time she gets done, she loves every creature.

The zoo group will miss her, and so will her job.
Her friends and her kin and her church will all sob.

Yet we know she must leave us, and leave us she will.
Africa calls, where she’ll live without frill.

Two years are too many to do without Bede
But we’ll see her again in ‘05, yes indeedy.

So run along, run, our dearest of friends.
Our love will go with you to all the earth’s ends!

by Christine Bird