Lasting Effects of Yearly Meeting Gathering

by Rhiannon

I went to help on my parent's allotment tonight, and with just half an hour picking blackberries, my hands were painted purple. I still haven't managed to wash the last of it out from under my fingernails.

Yearly Meeting Gathering seems like blackberries - juicy and sweet fresh from the bush, and it leaves a mark on you that you carry forward into the rest of life. Perhaps minutes are good on muesli, too, or maybe I'm pushing this analogy too far.

I came back from YMG in York tired (a situation somewhat increased by having spent the week before volunteering at Oxford Mencap's holiday scheme - I had so much fun I wore myself out) but also bubbling over with excitement about the business method, which I'd never really seen in action on that scale before, and about the things which were said. In particular, I'm proud to be able to tell people about our new stance on same-sex marriages. I was led to read Minute 25 (see them all here [pdf file] or read it in the context of the press release here) as ministry in meeting on Sunday morning*, and I enthused wildly over tea-and-biscuits (in my case, a glass of water) about the whole experience.

I also have a few other come-back-from-YMG symptoms. For example, having been to lark's circle dancing nearly every morning for a week, I'm waking up expecting to go circle dancing, and am disappointed to remember that I can't. Luckily, I'm not still trying to work out what tickets I need for tomorrow every afternoon!

* Not in Beeston, which as far as I know isn't meeting in August, but in Watford, my pre-university meeting.