Now that we have completed recent consultations for Kelly's on-going therapies (more details to come soon) and adding some order to the confusion and uncertainties of our options in NYC and elsewhere, Dad returned to Panama last Thursday. Ian and Mary collected Dad and baggage at Tocumen airport and quickly brought him up to date on local happenings both at home and office. Upon arriving home, Dad found that Pauline and the (too) numerous household pets were in good health and anxious to relate all manner of recent disasters and triumphs since his last exit.
Well after Ian and Mary had left for home, Pauline appeared at the doorway to Dad's den.
"Mr. Mark, I leave you a note on the table."
"You left a note on the table?" Now what manner of catastrophe would require that she write a note?
She disappeared from the doorway, quickly returning with the note.
"'ere is it." Then, taking up her beloved Scotty, Abigail, she retired to her little house in back.
After serving Dad a late-night supper and with quiet returning to the house, Pauline had sat down at the kitchen table and, writing neatly on a large index card, she composed this heart-felt poem for her sister, Kelly, and her family:
Sorrow
Our sunshine days are soon forgotten
when God sends the rain.
And when it rains on our parade
how quickly we complain.
But no one walks the road of life
in sunshine all the time.
There are pitfalls along the way
and mountains we must climb.
Sorrow dwells in the broken heart
where doubts and fear reside,
and thrives there in the shadows of tears
that we try to hide.
Where sorrow dwells, there is no joy,
no sunshine in our soul.
For dark and dreary are the days
when sorrow takes its toll.
God is with you
whenever there is pain.
There could be no rose
without a little rain.
A little faith, a little hope, abide.
And take heart;
Sorrow will soon depart.
November rains in Panama have again been heavy and ever threatening, causing widespread suffering and damage in the countryside. But dry season will "soon come" and sunshine and dry weather will return. As Pauline declared at the end of her note, we must "Keep the faith".
