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by Christina Quinn DC
 Throughout the course of our lives we experience many endings and many beginnings. Transitions are a natural and inevitable part of life, and because we find comfort in the familiar they can be very difficult.
Transitions are changes in ones life which involves a discontinuity with the past. With each change we must leave the protective structures which have carried us through and then face the future with a sense of vulnerability. Our ability to adapt may be sorely tested.
My Transition Journey, began when in 1977 I was appointed by my community to work in Nigeria. Leaving inner city Dublin for Uyo, Nigeria, was both daunting and challenging. My journey involved, a crossing over from a secure land to one whose roads I have never walked. (Joyce Rupp)
With time and help from seasoned missionaries I settled down and became integrated. However a far greater transition for me was in 2004 when I felt the time was right to bid farewell to my beloved Nigeria and return to the Irish Province.
Having fixed on the date of my departure the uncertainly and the letting go became harder and harder. Attending numerous farewell celebrations, revisiting places and people who were significant to me while on mission, and saying goodbye was not easy. Eventually the day of departure came and the final farewell. Was this real?, I asked.
 I received a big Cead Mile Failte from the community, my family and friends. Deep down I felt a great sense of loss. I felt very vulnerable and disconnected as so many changes had taken place during my 27 years of absence from Ireland. The Ireland I knew was no longer the same. Many significant changes had taken place on the political, economic and social scene. What was once familiar was not so again. In the interim years my value system had changed too. I had grown to see things differently. The choices and abundance of food in supermarkets for example and the wastage of food and water shocked me. For some time I went through a period of confusion, disorientation anxiety and insecurity. I longed for the fleshpots of Nigeria.
During a period of renewable at Dalgan Park, Navan, I had time to reflect and examine the course of my life. Listening to others stories who were in a similar situation gave me energy to invest myself in the Irish scene and an opportunity to embrace my tomorrows with confidence and peace. During this time I was helped in the process of letting go and I began to look at a future in Ireland as a new beginning. In January 2005 I was appointed to our community in Galway. I became involved in parish work. Here was an opportunity, to begin to go out of my weary mind into fresh beginnings, into fresh dreams daring to make my own bold tracks in the land of now. (Ted Loder)
Three years on I look back with gratitude on my missionary experience. It was a graced period, a time of enrichment, gift and insight. I thank all who touched my life and welcomed me into their lives.
To let go is not to regret the past
but to grow and live for the future
to let go is to fear less and love more.
-- Fr. Robert Gehering
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