Routines
Tomorrow, I'm helping in Rainbow house. I work Monday to Friday as Assistant Coordinator but the house is low on assistants (Lisa is on holiday and we have a vacancy to be filled next week) so I'm helping out in the morning. Its been 6 weeks since I helped Pete and Damien in the morning and went out shopping with people from the house. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm guessing if I go with Damien, we'll head off into Canterbury, balloons, postcards, leaflets from Whitefriars Shopping Centre and finish with McDonalds. I'm not psychic - its been a similar routine most Saturdays since I arrived 20 months ago.
Routine...we use the word in L'Arche a lot. Morning and evening routines are the things that core members do to go to bed or get up in the morning. Assistants are asked not to vary them too much so that the core member feels in control of whats happening, knows whats next. For Damien, routines seem to mean something a little more.
Damien is a young man, 24. Hes great fun, likes doing fun things like McDonalds, zoos, sailing, horse riding. But its strange, he seems to get quite apprehensive over NEW potentially fun things. Offer him the cinema with as much popcorn and coke as he can carry, or a postcard and he'll go for a postcard every time.
I'm the opposite - routines for me mean I stop thinking, stop being aware of time passing. If I find a routine, I DO feel secure (I still drive to my office the same way as on my first day even though I know theres a shortcut) but my brain feels redundant. I stop noticing the countryside, stop thinking about the day, my mind wanders off.
Damien has a box on top of his wardrobe - its an old shoe box that someone decorated with wrapping paper - pictures of mad spiders and happy worms, that kind of thing. Its where he keeps the postcards that he buys, that we then write together each evening. Its sort of his diary box. Every night, though particularly when hes tired, Damien will end up staring at this box, at the mad spiders. When hes stared for a while, he'll start to count them, showing me each spider. He looks delighted by them and really keen that you see them too. So I wonder if Damien is the fortunate one in this life with routines. He notices things I miss - the different details of the same object remain fascinating to him even though hes totally familiar with them. The same details continue to bring enjoyment even though hes shared them with me a hundred times.
In L'Arche, beyond the morning and evening routines, every week, every day is in some ways a routine. On weekdays, after everyone is up, had breakfast, made their packed lunch, climbed on the minibus, the assistants start their cleaning routines - the same floors, the same toilets, the endless washing up, the never ending hoovering. Its all routine. Yet, you ask any assistant - I mean ANY - what makes life special in L'Arche and they'll all tell you -its their recognition, their appreciation of each moment in each day. Time doesn't pass idly. In some way, the routines with all their familiarity, bring enjoyment and recognition of the importance of moments that are passing.
Damien I think is on to something.
Routine...we use the word in L'Arche a lot. Morning and evening routines are the things that core members do to go to bed or get up in the morning. Assistants are asked not to vary them too much so that the core member feels in control of whats happening, knows whats next. For Damien, routines seem to mean something a little more.
Damien is a young man, 24. Hes great fun, likes doing fun things like McDonalds, zoos, sailing, horse riding. But its strange, he seems to get quite apprehensive over NEW potentially fun things. Offer him the cinema with as much popcorn and coke as he can carry, or a postcard and he'll go for a postcard every time.
I'm the opposite - routines for me mean I stop thinking, stop being aware of time passing. If I find a routine, I DO feel secure (I still drive to my office the same way as on my first day even though I know theres a shortcut) but my brain feels redundant. I stop noticing the countryside, stop thinking about the day, my mind wanders off.
Damien has a box on top of his wardrobe - its an old shoe box that someone decorated with wrapping paper - pictures of mad spiders and happy worms, that kind of thing. Its where he keeps the postcards that he buys, that we then write together each evening. Its sort of his diary box. Every night, though particularly when hes tired, Damien will end up staring at this box, at the mad spiders. When hes stared for a while, he'll start to count them, showing me each spider. He looks delighted by them and really keen that you see them too. So I wonder if Damien is the fortunate one in this life with routines. He notices things I miss - the different details of the same object remain fascinating to him even though hes totally familiar with them. The same details continue to bring enjoyment even though hes shared them with me a hundred times.
In L'Arche, beyond the morning and evening routines, every week, every day is in some ways a routine. On weekdays, after everyone is up, had breakfast, made their packed lunch, climbed on the minibus, the assistants start their cleaning routines - the same floors, the same toilets, the endless washing up, the never ending hoovering. Its all routine. Yet, you ask any assistant - I mean ANY - what makes life special in L'Arche and they'll all tell you -its their recognition, their appreciation of each moment in each day. Time doesn't pass idly. In some way, the routines with all their familiarity, bring enjoyment and recognition of the importance of moments that are passing.
Damien I think is on to something.
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