[Magdalen] Homeward Bound

[Marion Thompson]

Amen.

Marion, a pilgrim
On 11/5/2014 9:57 PM, ROGER STOKES wrote:
> A few minutes ago I checked in, via the internet, for my flight back to the UK tomorrow evening. Two years ago I came to the USA on my "trip of a lifetime".  (Hollow laugh)  On three trips I have met a number of you face to face and been in 21 states, plus DC.  On this trip a couple of people have said I have seen more of their country than they have and I have certainly done some driving (a bit over 2,900 miles so far). If travel broadens the mind then I may have difficulty getting my hats on when I get home :-)
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> On this trip I have been asked how I am enjoying retirement, a question I cannot answer because I had precisely one day between my last service and heading to the airport for this trip. I have also spent nearly as much time over here as I have in my retirement apartment (18 nights there and this is night 16 of my trip).  There are many wonderful places in this world, not all of them well-known or famous.  Those less familiar places are where most of us live and the marvel of this medium of communication is that we ordinary folk can chat, share and laugh about life as we see and experience it.
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> I thank God that the wit of mankind has provided us with this means of individuals communicating directly with others rather than relying on "the great and the good" to say what they think should be said.  I have long thought that there is more understanding of what really matters at the grass-roots of society than there is among the leaders of our nations. Perhaps we need a real democracy where the demos, the people, rule the roost.
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> God alone knows why I have written this stream of consciousness.  If you are still reading, thank you. I am profoundly grateful for the way that we can share our ideas without then being coloured by our personal appearance so that mind can speak to mind. For those I have met another dimension has been added to our knowledge of each other.  May God grant us all the grace and the time to continue to learn form and with each other.
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> Roger
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