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Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Dancing in the Airport

Thanksgiving is a terrible time to travel, especially by plane. But we do what we must to enjoy family so never say never. My sister, niece and I flew to Austin to be with the here niece. My return flight was two hours after theirs  so we all got to the airport about 4pm. Then "maintainence issues" and weather took over. 

Turns out, if you must be stranded in an airport, Austin-Bergstrom is an excellent choice. People are friendly- I lost count of the announcement for items people left behind at security or even on the plane they just arrived on. The foods not bad- kinda pricey but decent choices. The TVs had a terrific Bronco's football game on. 

But the best was the music. Austin has a huge music industry.  So what better place to introduce the world to the Austin music scene than to rock out the airport?  Great music. And as my United light was delayed later and later, the place emptied. So I just danced up and down the QUIET, empty spaces. Gotta do something between touchdowns. 






I have no clue who this is. Any ideas?


So thanks, United, I guess.  Flight finally departed at 11pm. Delayed landing at Denver -
 "Heck why not bump back that flight, they're already late." So landed at 1am, 
my knightress in shining armor picked me up and we got home to my niece's about 2am. 

Just out dancing all night. 


Saturday, November 21, 2015

Pinpoints of light in the dark


       I've battled/ experienced/ suffered/ overcome...whatever we call it, had depression.  For years. As a friend said, "Depression becomes a dance partner that never wants to stop."  It's exhausting

     I take drugs. Antidepressants, to be specific.  It took me a long time to accept that I need drugs. And the decision, forced by doctors wiser than I was, probably saved my life.  
Depression for me was a long, slow slide starting with mild childhood winter moods. Then a postpartum  depression which didn't quite go away before some seasonal blues added to the chemical rut in my brain.  A rut that with each season or trauma, or the next postpartum episode added to the years in a location with overcast winters- each small depression added to that rut, that grove that got deeper and deeper in my brain.  The normal brain chemicals weren't able to fill in that gap and eventually my brain ceased working well enough to keep my emotional equalibrium.  I wasn't admitted to the psych unit because I lied on my initial evaluation. I said I didn't have a suicide plan. I did. 

     I'm so grateful for the intervention and the following years of medication adjustments and counseling. Vitamins and supplements aided in improving my sleep and helped my physical health.  When my husband died, the lessons from depression  gave me tools to grieve in a healthy way. I learned to sit quietly and be content with my God.  Writing opened my heart to my thoughts and emotions and gave me a new community.  
So I thought I had most of the lessons behind me. Until this fall. This month. Suddenly all my self-knowledge and intellectual understanding failed me. Again.  The details of the last few weeks still embarrass me.  I've added a new drug, I cancelled Thanksgiving at my house- who knew that was possible. And I'm going south for some sunshine and fun with my sister and her daughters.  And I wouldn't have done any of that if she hadn't stepped in and insisted I stop the crazies and do what I needed to do. For me. 

     That's tough. For many of us. We are caretakers, pillars of the church,  civic volunteers, mothers and daughters.  We don't bail on major holidays, not cook the turkey. Fortunately no one is flying in or I suspect I would be cooking. But my family has been supportive- perhaps, not totally understanding but I don't understand this ambush from my brain either.  
So the irony of my recent blogs with lofty words of seeing beauty and finding jpy in the small things  has not been lost on me.  Right now I see through a fog of numb and fatigue.  But I stand by my own advice and will continue to look, even when that looking is through duller eyes. 


      And here are a few of my small, beautiful things this week.


The window to my world


Followed by favorite things on the window sill.



 Or on the counter, catching the sun's rays.




I love these winter pillows- I just love textiles in general. Beauty you can touch.  Months ago I wandered into a fiber show- I don't knit or crochet but these soft balls inspire my creativity just by being in my space.



Then a glimpse into a bath.  This warm room gave me a needed jolt of homey beauty this week. "I love that space," I told myself.  Good self talk.




So my blessings on your week of preparation for our national holy day of gratitude. Feel free to buy a cooked turkey at your local grocery.  Run away, if only for a walk in sunshine before the pie.  Be kind to yourself.  Turns out the world doesn't end if you do. 

And watch for the surprises of small beauty. 

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

First snow, gentle reminder





Last week I woke to sunlight sparkling on hoar frost.  I love hoar frost. When I was a little girl in Alaska we rode the bus to school. There was a magic season- it must have been January or February, when the sun was out and the snow was fresh.  Any earlier in the winer we roadto school in pitch dark, morning and afternoon.  Great beginnings for me,  a woman with seasonal affect disorder.

But on those magical mornings when the sun shone and the moisture content was just right and the planets all lined up, the hoar frost would outline each branch, each fence post, each wire.  Delicate white crystals poised for a moment in perfect rest.  I would press my nose against the cold bus window and inhale the beauty of the wonder before my eyes.  Early morning sunbeams sparkled, soon their heat would melt the fairyland but for now, the bitter cold kept all in pure suspension.

For this small girl who struggled with the weight of winter, hoar frost outside the bus window was a gift— lifting me and bearing me through the long, dark season.





Now I'm a grown-up. Today I hurried to collect books for our prayer time and library videos for return and mail to be deposited and the computer for some time with high speed access.... as I hurried into yet another full day, I stopped for a moment. I paused as water pauses in that brief solid state of frost.

Like the lovely crystals that sparkled across my yard, I won't last forever. I will someday feel the sun's rays one last time and be changed.  Hoar frost melts into the earth- earth to earth, dust to dust.  But there is also the changing from glory to glory, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit."

Someday I'll be fully human and fully glorious but for now I am merely in the process. But while I'm here, I want to behold with an open face...the glory of the Lord.  The glory of the hoar frost on the golden grass, the first dusting of snow on a porch rail cap.  An old ore cart, from a mine where men descended into dark to dig gold ore from the heart of the earth, transformed into beauty with the glory of the first snow laid gently on its weather beaten surface.



Some days I feel life-beaten, rushed and too busy even in my quiet retirement life. It's my nature to rush from one good thing to another.  On this golden morning, my spirit paused, poised for those moments of wonder.  I pressed my nose against the window of my memories and once again, reveled in beauty.



Pause with me. Notice the light. Look for the beauty.  Breathe deep.



Neither the hoar frost nor the life on this sphere,
last forever.



Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Beauty in the small beans of life

I'm writing a book. There I said it.  Not sure why some days but whenever I give my 30 second elevator speech (which changes every time I say it), the woman stops and stares at me, "Write that book. I'll read that."

But it's not a fun book. I should write romance novels or humor- I loved Erma Bombeck. That was a woman who could put a humorous spin on every day life or make you weep with her spot-on wisdom.  I'm not Erma.  I'm writing about childhood trauma and fear. I'm writing poetry that sucks life out of me. I'm digging into my own lifelong fears.  This is fun, folks.

And I'm sharing all this with a wonderful group of supportive writers who meet in Sundance, Wyoming.  We actually figured out this week that none of us actually live IN Sundance but one has a Sundance address since it's the closest town to her ranch.  I drive over an hour if the winter hasn't closed the back gravel road, otherwise it's over two.  I'm the one who brings the gut wrenching stories and shares the panic attacks.  Like I said, fun fluffy stuff.

But it needs to be written, if only for me.  So I write on.  But I also need to balance this dark writing with some lighter pieces.  I want to notice beauty on a regular basis, not just when I run off to a fun city like Seattle.  Today it was beans.

Red kidney, speckled pinto, white navy beans for contrast.  A tumble of earthen goodness.




My clever sister-in-law introduced me to hot bean therapy.  I dumped three bags of different size beans in a big bowl and microwaved the whole thing.
Then I sat on my porch in the sunshine and dug my hands into the hot beans.   

Once again, I'm  making wreaths for a local fundraiser and my hands ache.  I have a helper who clips all the greens, I just design and clamp the sections onto a wire base.  The clamp is foot operated- this is a classy act and the wreaths are beautiful.  But last year I did my own clipping and  made five in one day.... and my thumb joint has never been the same. Physical and occupational therapy has helped, as does a thumb joint brace but so do hot beans.



Plus I have to just sit, in the sunshine. Quiet and still. Messing with beans.  It was lovely. So were the beans.




 They roll and slip in my fingers. Bumpy but smooth at the same time, I dig deep and wiggle my hands under their warmth.  I rub my hands and hot beans slide between my fingers.  I feel their different sizes and shapes- longer and short, thin and plump. I hold my hands still and search with fingertips for the pockets of heat.  I'm a child playing in pebbles by the beach.

I close my eyes and feel the sun on my eyelids, the light bright through the skin. The rumor is for snow tonight but this morning the sun is bright in a brilliant blue sky. I sit in a light sweater, a small breeze plays with my hair. I hear its murmur in the pines. My hands are warmed, the stiff joints soothed.

Beans are today's small beautiful thing.


Sunday, October 18, 2015

Seeing in Seattle

Sunday I walked in the Wedgewood neighborhood of Seattle. Soft gray mist hung low and last night's rain had color- saturated the fall leaves, highlighted a hundred textures and freshly spritzed the season's flowers. It smelled of moss and lavender. 

What a crazy beautiful city. Love the architecture, love the greens.  I reveled in the beauty I saw. 

The beauty I see.

Yes, I SEE.

I came to Seattle to consult with an eye specialist, to find out if there was anything else to be done to improve my vision. He gave some valuable information but also confirmed my previous diagnosis. My retina was badly torn and the extensive scar tissue was likely unavoidable. It's within my visual field. The macula was torn off, without oxygen too long and may or may not heal any further. So my visual acuity may be what it is.  

But today, I realized — I see...


I see dew drenched flowers. 

And leaf strewn walks. 



I see the texture of plump succulents and the promise of next years strawberries. 


 

I have vision for the big picture, the distant vista. It's the close-up that throws me off. 

I take a photo and assume something is in focus, load it on my computer and enlarge it to choose which  image matches what I saw.  I read of a man with such limited vision, he does this and much more just to see his children's faces.                          Perspective, it's all your perspective. 




Mine's a clunky process but it works. And I delete a lot of photos, keeping life simpler...



Sometimes I get too close, too myopic and even my own finger gets in my way.  

Nothing's in focus.

I can get too close, too introspective in my mind as well.  I'll worry a thought like an old dog worries a bone. Pick at a perceived flaw and unravel myself. Fail to step back and see the bigger picture. 

I came here in a search for visual acuity.  
                   Instead I've been reminded of vision. 

                                  And I wouldn't trade one for the other.  
Thanks, Seattle. 




Saturday, April 4, 2015

The Choice of Rest


I do not rest well in this season of waiting and healing. I have not spend hours in contemplation and prayer. I find writing and reading difficult and tiring.  I waste time looking for my misplaced reading glasses so I can see what's on my phone or computer or plate. I put drops in dry eyes and cry when I can't distinguish the clothes in my closet. I'm nervous of the prognosis of my long term vision.  If this is a test, I'm failing.

But this week has been a quiet respite from my agitation. Last weekend I met with a small group and read the Scriptures, sat in silence, walked with them, did some art. It was a pause, a holy Saturday.

All these years of observing the Easter season, Saturday was just a throw away day. We attended dozens of churches in our mobile life. We occasionally had a Maundy Thursday service, once or twice with public foot washing. Another humbling practice and I've often wondered why we seem to ignore that example of Christ's or pull it out once a year.   Most churches had some sort of Good Friday observance. Clearly we were of the "low" churches crowd.  But in all, Easter Sunday was the big celebration.  Some churches had egg hunts, some had productions- one with life animals.  But Saturday? That was my day to figure how if the boys' pants and my Easter dress from last year still fit and if Abby had clean white shoes.



But the Scripture tells us that after the exhaustion of pain and confusion and anguish on Friday,  Jesus...well, it turns out we Christians disagree on what exactly He did on the Saturday.  But we know His disciples observed their Sabbath and rested.

“In honor of Creation and at God’s express command, 
the Jewish people observed the Sabbath as a day of complete rest.
 But its most profound meaning is contained in this particular Sabbath in which,
 having laid down his life for the human family, Jesus, the Son of God, rested.


   Out of respect for the death of the Redeemer, there is no liturgical celebration on Holy Saturday.  In honor of Jesus’ body resting in tomb, the church also rests. 
There is nothing more to be said, nothing more to be done. 
On this day everything rests.”

Thomas Keating

The Mystery of Christ

I like that. It's not an empty day. It's not merely a waiting day.  It's a resting day. A day to sink into the pain of Friday and to anticipate the joy of Sunday.  But clearly it's also a day of it's own activity. It is a day to rest, to breathe, to pause. 
 

"Praying around the Cross"
Trinity Lutheran Church
 Rapid City, SD



So I am remembering my own small pain and looking forward to whatever is ahead for my vision, and I am choosing to rest in the middle.  Are you in an in-between place as well? Not yet there but in a time that may feel useless or  unproductive or wasted?  We all have moments and seasons that can feel this way. Perhaps this Holy Week, we too can choose to rest.  To know, at some level, in all things...


There is nothing more to be said, nothing more to be done. 
On this day everything rests.”


Friday, April 3, 2015

The Humiliation of Frailty

The cantata finished and we sat in silence. One after the first, the two pastors walked quietly down the long aisle, their heads down, no eye contact with the people.  We sat and absorbed the sorrow of Holy Week. The small choir filed out until just one older man remained seated.

Then began the arduous process of his departure. The narrator brought over his walker and gripping his arms, pulled him to his feet. Clutching the walker handles and with her hand on his broad back, he pushed and shuffled his way to the edge of the chancel and out of sight of the watching congregation. Age may have left him his voice but inevitably, it was stripping away his dignity, along with his strength.


I've been stripped for a season- of my strength, my self-sufficiency.

I've been led in public places. Once I stood gripping a shopping cart, staring down at my hands on the handle, at my feet on the floor and unknowingly blocking the aisle.  My eye surgery required almost three weeks of lying flat on my stomach or holding my head down gazing at my lap or feet. It's easy to feel invisible when you don't look up.

Even now, almost two months since my retina detached and was surgically repaired, I am hesitant when I walk, nervous without normal depth perception.  Fumbling for reading glasses, I peer closely at jewelry or sweaters to determine what to wear in a slow process that used to take seconds. My compassion for the elderly has expanded and I understand more their fear of falling.

When I feel sorry for myself, I feel frail and fragile.
And I hate it.


Interesting timing of this frailty in my life with the Christian Holy Season.  Easter vigil reminds use Jesus was weakened by a scourging and humiliated by his tormentors. He chose frailty when he set the power and privilege of His divinity aside and become human in the first place.

Fully God, yet fully man. 

And in becoming fully human, Jesus also became those frail parts of humanity—the hungry, tired, lonely, disappointed, painful parts of our existence. Perhaps he too had moments of fear.


He never rebuked His followers for being weak, for being frail, for being human.

He rebuked them for lack of faith, for doubting, for falling asleep when he needed them.  In my Bible I haven't found Jesus saying in red letters, "You are so human.  Why do you feel pain and experience confusion? Get a grip!"


Instead, His words are familiar in their compassion,

Come all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? 
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father's care.

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it,

When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby,
He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son?"



Being frail can be humiliating. Our elderly tenor was once a strong and vibrant man and today he needs help standing.  I'm frustrated by my weakness in this healing process but Jesus is my example of divine willingness to be frail, to be humble, to be comforted.  Jesus was what humans needed to see and, in turn what we need to become.

He embraced the human experience. He understood when his disciples were weak. He saw to the needs of his mother at his most vulnerable time. The complete expression of God in human form.



Humiliate and humble both have the Latin root of humilius- of the hummus, or earth, human. 

Perhaps we aren't humiliated by our frailty, 
just revealed to be fully human. 


Sunday, February 22, 2015

Seeing Dimly....

It's been fourteen days since the emergency surgery to reattach my retina.  Last night I lay on my stomach to keep the bubble of gas inserted in my eyeball positioned correctly, and thus, keep the healing retina attached.  And I listened to a wonderful NPR interview with the past United States poet laureate, Ted Kooser. I've met Mr. Kooser and love his voice and his perspective on the Midwest values he treasures and honors with his poetry.  The interview included phone calls from listeners and one was especially poignant.

A German war bride wistfully asked if his experience growing up in the same location as previous family generations, knowing their homestead, fishing in the same river your ancestors had traveled when they looked for land- did those experiences make life richer? As she listened to his poetry, she said she was flooded with memories of her childhood in Germany. While she's immensely grateful for her life in America, she wondered.  Had she missed something?  She looked back at life... and saw dimly.

I'm looking at the present and seeing dimly- through a bubble of gas that floats and bobs a bit and obscures any clear vision.  Slowly I'm seeing more-all fuzzy but still, the shape of a hand, blocks of brilliant color as the sun floods a playroom, translucent plastic bath toys in a sunlight window. My body is already absorbing the bubble and will eventually be gone. My retina will again have a clear line of light from the pupil. Images will be clearer. I'll see as I don't see now.



All of us look back at our pasts, and forward toward our futures with obscured vision. We wonder, with our German/American friend- would my life have been richer if I had done...., will I have less regrets if I chose....?

Having my vision threatened has brought something I took for granted to prominence. For a few days the potential loss of my sight dominated my thoughts and emotions.  But in those quiet hours laying on my stomach, my thoughts are also of sight and vision in larger sense.  


What floats between me and a healthy vision of my life, past and future? 
Fears?  Expectations? Regrets? 

We can take for granted the current view of our reality but when that reality is threatened by 
chaos, calamity or contention, what is our response? 

Do we really see as clearly as we think we do? 
What if reality is obscured? 
Seen through a fog of unknowing? 



In the Bible, Paul said we see dimly, as through a mirror. The Amplified Bible has interesting wording of I Corinthians 13:12-


12 For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].



I'm looking forward to seeing more clearly again or at least not having a continual fog on the right side distracting me.  But I also want to keep thinking about a less obvious fog, a less visible barrier between me and a full life of trust and joy.  I want to look forward with faith to the time when I will fully understand how my past experiences and my future choices were all part of a beautiful mosaic. 

 I can only peer dimly, as through a mist, at the present.  

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Lent from Frederich Buechner

I am still unable to write more than a few lines- each page is divided between blurry reading lines on the left and a complete fog on the right side.  It's been two weeks since the skill of a surgeon reattached my torn retina and I'm waiting for sight. 

An apt metaphor for Lent. Waiting....for sight.  



Meanwhile, one much smarter than I asks us to look closely inside this season.


Frederick Buechner Quote of the Day Logo 2012-2013
February 18, 2015
 
Lent
 
Special Quote for Ash Wednesday
 
In many cultures there is an ancient custom of giving a tenth of each year's income to some holy use. For Christians, to observe the forty days of Lent is to do the same thing with roughly a tenth of each year's days. After being baptized by John in the river Jordan, Jesus went off alone into the wilderness where he spent forty days asking himself the question what it meant to be Jesus. During Lent, Christians are supposed to ask one way or another what it means to be themselves.

If you had to bet everything you have on whether there is a God or whether there isn't, which side would get your money and why?

When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see in it that you most like and what do you see in it that you most deplore?

If you had only one last message to leave to the handful of people who are most important to you, what would it be in twenty-five words or less?

Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you would most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest to remember?

Is there any person in the world, or any cause, that, if circumstances called for it, you would be willing to die for?

If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it?

To hear yourself try to answer questions like these is to begin to hear something not only of who you are but of both what you are becoming and what you are failing to become. It can be a pretty depressing business all in all, but if sack-cloth and ashes are at the start of it, something like Easter may be at the end.
- Originally published in Wishful Thinking

http://www.frederickbuechner.com/

Friday, January 30, 2015

Winter Books- the good, the not-too-bad, the really old but not-that-ugly

The days are long and gray in southeastern Ohio. On rare days, the sun breaks through the tree branches in pinks and golds but most mornings, the day just arrives with gray clouds and a bit of pale blue peering out.  It's a good climate for reading.

I don't read much fiction except in the winter. Then I gorge on whatever is close-by or recommended by reading friends. I begin mystery books at nine in the evening and find myself blurry-eyed at three in the morning. I tell myself it's an indulgence sparked by lack of fiction reading during my twenty years of  home-schooling and moving around. It may just be an indication of my lack of discipline and that double edged sword of living alone. No one reminds me to go to bed.  Or expects me to be pleasant the next day!


I just recently gained access to the local library here in Ohio- between the holidays, the flu and an injured hand, excursions out were limited to the essentials.  I did find John Green's The Fault in our Stars at the nearby grocery store and enjoyed it much more than I expected. Clever but careful, thoughtful writing. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11870085-the-fault-in-our-stars  

Off to the library we went and they had no John Green books on the shelves. He's in the young adult section- I should have known.  I found... hmm. No idea. That shows my retention with fiction.  Now my daughter just said, "It was Jody Picoult, about the elephants."  Oh, to have a younger memory.

Leaving Time is Picoult's intriguing story weaving the nature of elephants with loss and letting go. It has a pretty wild twist at the end that I wanted to go back and revisit but the plot had more holes than swiss cheese.  She's certainly a writer that keeps you up nights!  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18816603-leaving-time


Since Picoult, I've gone a bit of a spree and the following titles reveal how varied or eclectic or perhaps, how desperate I've been.  It's also interesting what appeals when I perused my adult child's childhood library.






So the bookcase in my room has given me some gems.  Willa Cather's sweeping, yet intimate tale of Nebraska pioneers and the familiar theme of us vs. them woven within My Antonia. Lovely, inspiring.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5844400-my-antonia-o-pioneers 

A childhood story that everyone should read, L.M.Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables.  If you don't know the story, it's a sweet treat. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8127.Anne_of_Green_Gables


Next my eyes find a Penguin Classic.  Aeschylus's trilogy, The Oresteia. I 'taught' the first story, Agamemnon, to my daughter in high school, reading it for the first time myself as well.  This time I read in the introduction, "Perhaps no paradox inspired Aeschylus more than the bond that might exist between pathos and mathos, suffering and its significance. That bond is life itself.... and that bond produces our achievement- pain becomes a stimulus and a gift."   Let's think on that for a moment.

And I think that's a excellent place to stop. Before all the murder and mayhem. Get to to point first.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1519.The_Oresteia   Check out some great reviews, with really big words.


Ok, my head is spinning. So last night I retreated to the relative sanity of Shel Silverstein's classic, A Light in the Attic.   Goofy black ink drawing, insensible characters, twists with words and concepts. But this had this anchor for my recent thrashing in a sea of words.  http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30118.A_Light_in_the_Attic


Frozen Dream


I'll take the dream I had last night

And put in my freezer, 

So someday long and far away

When I'm an old gray geezer,

I'll take it out and thaw it out,

This lovely dream I've frozen,

And boil it up and sit me down

And dip my old toes in.


Monday, January 19, 2015

Selma- "Where were you? Do you remember?"

Last night I went to see Selma in the movie theater.  I rarely go to movies alone but after all the questions raised in my mind by Ferguson and wanting to write something for Martin Luther King Day, it seemed providential.

I found a middle section seat and excused myself to pass the three or four women already in the row. I left one seat between me and the next person- standard public seating etiquette at least for Americans. But more women joined their group and they moved down the aisle to accommodate them.  Asked if she needed me to move, the woman to my left assured me I was fine.  So I found myself sitting next to a perfect stranger for a movie about the injustice and brutalities done to her race...by my race.

The movie is moving and educational and revealing and powerful. Without giving too much away- because everyone needs to go see this movie.... the opening scenes caught me off guard and I sat with tears streaming down my face. Sniffling and looking for Kleenex.  And it only got worse.

I knew about this events. I read the accounts, not in my history books in this detail, but I had read about the church bombings and the march from Selma to Montgomery.  A few years ago as I drove to the East coast, I chose to drive through Alabama to see Montgomery and Tuskegee.  For reasons I'm still not sure I understand, Tuskegee was uncomfortable, alien and I was glad to retreat to the comfort and familiarity of a military base at nearby Fort Benning.  But it's one thing to know facts and tour sites, it's something else to live it. I didn't live this.

At one point, the woman next to me leaned over and whispered, "Did you know about this? Before the movie?"  I did but when she asked me where I was and if I remembered the events, I replied, "I was a child of ten living in Alaska without a television. I never heard a thing."

We gasped and cringed at the same scenes. We shared in her story. My world got a little wider.

Before the movie I attended a Celtic music mass celebrating the second Sunday after Epiphany.



....remembering that God brings light to any darkness. Let us pray.


After the movie we moved down the ramp to exit and my new acquaintance and I spoke a few words. "What can I do? "I asked.  "Be open, educate, share what you know, be a light."  Amen, sister. 


Earlier my service had ended with a hymn by one of my favorite contemporary composers. 

Wind upon the Waters
by Marty Haugen

Wind upon the waters, voice upon the deep,
 rouse your sons and daughters, wake us from our sleep, 
breathing life into all flesh, breathing love into all hearts, 
living wind upon the waters of my soul.  
  

Blazing light of wonder, flame that pierces night,
 burst the dark asunder, fill our souls with light. 
Lord of glory, fill the skies, make an end to hatred’s cries, 
be the blazing sun of justice in our lives.

Amen, brother.