Sister Act

Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, here’s what you do, say nothing evil or hurtful; snub evil and cultivate good; pursue peace for all you’re worth.

At the age of 12 I found myself in boarding school. It was an all-girls school run by Catholic nuns. We followed a strict regime, punctuated by punishment for any deviation from set rules. For some reason rules seemed to break when I was around.

I was always in trouble!

The nuns were strict, they were tough disciplinarians. They taught me structure, they taught me rules and they introduced me to Jesus. As a teenager however, I hated them and felt they were mean. I decided that their meanness was as a result of the fact that they had chosen to be celibate!  Well, that’s how my sisterhood friends and I worked it out in our heads anyway. It didn't matter the real reason, we had found the answer to world peace.

I have come to understand that celibacy is the life the nuns chose as an expression of their faith. Whether you understand it or not, whether you know some who may have lived in apparent hypocrisy or not, I guess you've got to  respect it. It’s a choice, life is full of choices. 

It’s not that bad.

Looking back, I wish I had totally embraced that journey, its experience not only impacted me positively but it also shaped the person I am today. I still clean like the nuns are coming to inspect.

I had never been away from home for any given period of time when I found myself in what we called a boarding house with 24 other girls. Honestly not sure I survived with all those female hormones in the same place at the same time.

I was paired with a girl I had known since I was four which was some consolation in the new environment I was in. We shared a bunker, I took the top bed she took the bottom. I had heard rumours the boarding house was haunted by a lady walking around in stilettos heels, a little bit like in the horror movies, they named her schooner girl.  Schooner was a type of stiletto.  To cope with the supposed situation I reminded myself we were Catholic. I had watched the exorcist; we were the good guys. The good guys always win in the end, well at least in the movies they do.

Sometime during the first few months we encountered what I can only describe as the total wrath of a nun!  It was raining one night coupled with strong winds.  From a distance I heard what I can describe as the sound of heals connecting with slab.  The tapping seemed to be coming closer to where I was. My friend had heard it too and we were nearly wetting ourselves or passing out with fear whichever of the two. We made an executive decision to sleep in the same bed.   

Big mistake, we were Catholics, we were in an all-girls school and we had just decided to sleep in the same bed! I can still hear the nuns screeching at us and my muscles still hurt from the punishment inflicted on us for this massive error of judgement. In our fearful situation, intent meant nothing to the nuns. I, however still think the decision we took in the face of walking stiletto woman was genius. I will never be sure whether schooner girl really existed or not and whether on that night it was rain water that may having been dripping down a drain pipe or something.

I have learnt to embrace the power of now, there is wealth in my boarding school experience, it set the building blocks of what my life is today.  I now with the benefit of hindsight love my experience with matching passion to how I hated it whilst there at times~ it didn't change, I did.

The undiscovered is not in the distant future, it is contained within what is right in front of us.