The Friday Five...leap year edition!

It's Leap Day!! Whether you're one of the special few who have a birthday only once every four years, or simply confused by the extra day on the calendar, everyone is welcome to join in and play our Leap Year Friday Five.

Tell us about a time you:

1. Leapt before looked:

This is quite challenging because in general I DON'T LEAP. Not me. Risk-averse, in every way.
But I can remember one "leap" that I survived...back in the Year When Everything Fell Apart...I was told at the end of May (in a form letter) that there would be no teaching available for sessional instructors in the coming September--which meant I was out of a job. There was a hand-written PS on the letter from my boss saying, "I think I can find you one section to teach, perhaps." I went straight down the corridor and into his office without feeling the floor anywhere along the way, and said, as follows: "B, don't you tell me that I have no teaching next fall because I HAVE to have teaching next fall, and there's no two ways about that." And he looked at me mildly and said, "Close the door, and sit down, and tell me what's going on." So I did, and we had one of those break-through conversations that took us to "friends" in one fell swoop. (And there WAS enough teaching to keep us afloat, and the biopsies came back negative, and one way and another we got through THAT year...)

2. Leapt to a conclusion:

...actually I do this fairly frequently and it's nearly always the same conclusion: "Woe to Troy! It's all up with us! We're ALL DOOMED! DOOMED, I tell you!!!" Most tedious. The first time I did this, apparently, was when I was reading to myself The Three Little Pigs. My mother came into the room just as I flung the book into the corner, exclaiming, "He's eaten the first little pig, he's eaten the second little pig, he's just about to eat the third little pig, and I'm not reading this EATY BOOK any more!"

3. Took a Leap of Faith:

The year before I was ordained...after a very frustrating conversation about ministry...I betook myself to the local MCC shop "Ten Thousand Villages" and bought myself a set of five stoles from Thailand...at that point I had no date of ordination nor any assurance that there would ever be one. But something inside said, "Put your money where your mouth is, or where your hopes are." It was a happy and memorable encounter with the Mennonite volunteers too; as we concluded our business one of them said to me, "Now you go right up the street to your bishop's office, you walk in and slap these down on his desk and say, 'SEE? I'm ready!!'" THAT was too big a leap for me; but HER confidence was very affirming! And within six months...ordination was on the calendar, after all.

4. Took a literal Leap. Honestly, I cannot remember even one.

5. And finally, what might you be faced with leaping in the coming year?

Well, it's high time I leapt, gently, into an exercise program. And that will probably mean leaping into a swimming pool somewhere nearby. Or, of course, letting myself down into it gradually an inch at a time!