Dear Inner Circle,

A scientist once told me that the human act of standing upright was quite a feat. I’ve just been observing how difficult it can be. There is a fellow at our front door suffering from a double whammy of a body that can’t stop moving and a complete loss of balance. He’s trying to put some things into a bag and I’m at a loss to describe how difficult this task must be for him. He’s fallen over several times in the past few minutes, but he can’t stay still even once fallen. The worst feature of his situation is that all of the body movements are contorted in unnatural moves that look for all the world like he’s a puppet being manipulated by strings. A bloke walked past him just now and muttered, “Mate you were better on heroin than this sh**”. Not only will ice lead to an early death but it will make of your precious moments, miserable. As I write I’m comforted to see two staff members heading over to the man. There couldn’t be safer hands for this man than are lovingly applied here. I love all our people, but the staff and volunteers in our Community Services Centre on our ground floor are all angels among us.

Just a few feet away, the most beautiful thing is happening before my eyes. A few weeks ago I told you of a relatively young woman who is near her end. I’ve seen a wonderful outpouring of love lavished on this dear lady. I’ve seen our dear Una do some breathtaking things as a way of fulfilling a last wish when death is imminent. Una has a tough job at Wayside. She is responsible for a team of staff and volunteers and every day she has to be tough as boots and soft as mush. Una can bark in her heavy Scottish accent and she has a stare that would frighten a Labrador out of a butchers shop. Yet few hearts are so big, so soft and so generous. Our dying lady is just now sitting in our café, looking most unwell. Una stepped up to her and began to brush her hair. I just witnessed bliss. Our darling terminal lady closed her eyes, paralysed in ecstasy. Mr Falling Over Man probably never knew a high like this one. Una has just been called away and a beautiful volunteer has stepped in to take up “brush duties”. I love this place.

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