This postcard story is given in its entirety. This is the reception room where I had my first interview with the Mother Superior before entering the convent where I subsequently spent 16 years. The sisters now have a new convent so this is a story that has historical significance. The building is now being used as a Roman Catholic school.
"The reception room was small. It was no more than a bulge at the end of a corridor, for it was here that the original grey stone house connected to the red brick addition by means of a second door. The fireplace with its marble surround cried out for the crackle of logs; and each tick of the brass domed clock on the carved mantle piece held a moment of waiting, as if the room longed for its earlier life.
The window seat, now a shelf for potted African violets in colors of white through pink to deep purple, called for the long forgotten chintz-covered cushions. The oak-paneled wall seemed to anticipate the imminent return of family photographs, while it fulfilled its temporary duty as backdrop to a wooden crucifix and a portrait of the Mother Foundress.
I sat on one of the chairs, their needlepoint seats and backs reminiscent of days gone by, and awaited my appointment with the Mother Superior. The hardwood floor beneath my feet drummed the footsteps of long dead patients, for this had been a doctor’s house. The patients’ ghosts released hundreds of butterflies satisfying their search of a home by invading my stomach."
4 comments:
Again, your poet's eye, voice, and heart come through, Judith, as you frame the convent waiting room, the fireplace, and your experience of waiting in that place.
It's a fascinating experience just to read it.
Thanks Peter. It's so long ago but it is still very real to me. I do not regret the experience, I learned a lot there that I could never have learned anywhere else. As they say, you can take the girl out of the convent but you can't take the convent out of the girl.
Hi Judith,
I couldn't agree more about "you can take the girl out of the convent but you can't take the convent out of the girl"! The same holds true for teachers. I know from experience that you can take the teacher out of the classroom but...! Ever since I left teaching, my life has become a classroom without walls! :)
I love this Dolores. The phrase "classroom without walls" strikes a chord with me. Recently, "Mystics without Monasteries" and "Contemplatives without Cloisters" have been two phrases that keep popping up in my reading!
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