I had an upsetting incident happen yesterday evening. As some of my readers are aware my husband and I have been attending (and belong to) a local Unitarian-Universalist Church. In fact, the minister who was here twenty-nine years ago presided over our marriage ceremony, which I wrote. The next minister presided over the memorial service for our baby daughter, a much wanted child who died at eight days. Over the years I served this church on the Programme Committee and on the Board of Directors. Therefore, what happened was even more bitter, because I was welcomed as a polytheist.
For approximately 14 years we have attended flittingly because of the massive amounts of sleep deprivation I suffered due to the closure of Norwich Hospital and my having to "take to the road" for daily commutes of up to 200 miles per day in order to maintain medical insurance for my husband, who needed weekly psychiatric appointments. In addition to the sleep deprivation, I underwent several knee surgeries leading to complete knee replacements. My Father, also, needed my additional attention as my Mother had died in 2001, so we would meet him at a pre-arranged restaurant on a Sunday morning, which was always inconvenient for attendance. However, now I treasure those Sundays as my Father died in March of 2013.
During all this time apparently certain members pushed for banning personal scents in the building. So, yesterday I get up and do my usual morning ablutions and finish off with a quick spray of Chloe. The Craft Group isn't meeting until 7:00 P.M. I remember nada about this "new rule." However, apparently I "reeked" to two of the so-called ladies. I was accused of being the source of one's migraine from the previous week, though she is a librarian and works at the local public library. I don't even remember what I wore! So, instead of being this "welcoming" group, I am being ganged up on by two untrained pit bulls. Now, I have a rhetorical question: I know that scent diminishes throughout the day, so how could I still be "reeking" when another woman said that she could not smell me? I do believe that some of this has to be a hypochondriacal response to a small stimuli, exaggerating it beyond its proper proportions.
I know that this is only the tip of a bigger iceberg which has been building. Another person I know is also upset about the way things are going. I also did not see another at either at the two meetings which I attended (I used to go frequently as a devotion to Athena Ergane). Ah, well, the content of the talks has gone down hill horribly. I really need to put more energy into the Proto-Demos and getting a round-table philosophy discussion group started.
