Timing

Today is Trinity Sunday and the country is in celebratory mood. Festivities have commenced to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. I daresay thoughts of such an occasion were far from her thoughts on that fateful day in 1952 when she first learned of the death of her father. But life is often like that throwing up the unexpected when we least expect it. The extra Bank Holiday on Tuesday has been granted in recognition of Her Majesty's acheivement and rightly so. For my family, it sadly marks the sixth anniversary since we lost our daughter Thea. At just fifteen months of age, she succumbed to meningococcal septicaemia and the pain is still with us. I learned on Friday that I have been successful in my recent exams at Medical School. I will now progress to the fourth year of my studies one step closer to being able to give back to the Health Service which has played such a significant part of my life. We received today a 'phone call from Mindy's niece who needed a place to stay for a few days. As a committed Christian I consider such a request to be a basic obligation. As a Human Being, such a request can only be met in the affirmative. In these times of financial austerity and hardship, much is made of broken families and a lack of social cohesion. It is perhaps apt then that on the day the country comes together to celebrate the reign of their monarch, we as a family do likewise to offer an open door and a friendly welcome to one of our own.