2016 Resolutions

It's that time of year.  Everybody likes a new start.  I read an article this morning about keeping your resolutions by making only fun ones - like drinking more (and more expensive) wine.

Last week in Forum, the facilitator for the day asked a provocative question:

If 2016 could be the best year of your life, what would have to happen for this to be true?

This is hard and complicated.  I need to make everybody in my life do what I think is right.  Right?  OK, that won't happen.

Communion Bread

For me, in many ways, 2015 has been the best year of my life.  Seems crazy to say in light of all the bad stuff that came down.  But I know that getting to that place in my head and my heart is an inside job.

And I continue to get do-overs.  I saw on Face Book that two of my favorite people, Myrna and Norlin, helped make our church's communion bread for Sunday.  Whenever I take communion (if I do it right,) I get a fresh start on having the best time of my life.


***

We Should All Be Feminists

Dave's young adult granddaughter gave the book We Should All Be Feminists to him, as well as several other male friends and family members, for Christmas last week.  He read it in Chicago in one sitting, then flew to Atlanta where I read it in one sitting.  It's short.

Best selling and award winning novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, wrote the book a couple of years ago after delivering it as a TED talk.  She was raised in Nigeria but now divides her time between the United States and Nigeria.

Chimamanda believes we all should be feminists and promote feminism all over the world. Why, you may wonder, should we do that?  Following are a couple of examples - not from her book - but from the news this past week.

• Today we learned that Japan and South Korea reached an agreement to end the controversy over the Korean women who were used in brothels as comfort women in World War II.  By "comfort women" they mean sex slaves (200,000 of them) who were provided to Japanese troops.  By "brothels" they mean being shipped everywhere to instantly provide sex in, most often, brutal situations.  
• Right here in Central Florida, today, I have friends who are working with young girls who are sex slaves.  Many of them runaways, they are kidnapped, drugged, beaten and brutally raped to condition them to life on the street, controlled by pimps. 
• I read two stories this past week about girls who were sent to study in France, being seduced by ISIS members, impregnated and sent to Syria.    After having their babies it's almost impossible to leave.

What does this have to do with feminism?  Feminism is about respect.  It begins at home.

A couple of weeks ago, when the word came down that American women can now "legally" be engaged in combat in our armed forces, I read several of our newspaper's irate letters to the editor.  One was written by a (I'm sure loving) father and ended by asking if you would let your daughter go into combat,

All I could think about is how, for centuries, parents have been proudly sending their sons off to war. How can we say to our grown daughters, who have the skill, training, determination and the legal right that they cannot.

I love this quote from the book:

Gender matters everywhere in the world.  And I would like today to ask that we should begin to dream about and plan for a different world.  A fairer world.  A world of happier men and happier women who are truer to themselves.  And this is how to start:  we must raise our daughters differently.  We must also raise our sons differently. 


***

Hope and Joy

Christmas Joy this Morning

Christmas can be hectic for clergy persons and other professional staff, as well as the rest of us.  Lots of folks in the congregation are extra happy but stressed.  Others are extra sad.  This year, along with all of the above we've had two unexpected deaths in our church staff family in the last few days.  One, a son killed in a traffic accident, another, a husband.

So what was this morning like?  At Sunday school time we had our annual carol sing - with an amazing leader, a harpist, two professional singers and the piano played by the father of the young man who was killed.

Lots of laughing, clapping and good music about the baby coming!  (The baby changed everything!)

Worship was more of the same.  The sermon was on Hope.

Me Being Wise

The other day, somebody asked me how I was able to be a business consultant with my limited skills.  Seriously, that's what he asked me.  It's not really rocket science to love and then carefully listen to people,  and repeat back to them their positive truth.  I did a lot of it.

Still do.


***

Young Writers

Connie Schultz, Journalist

By young writers, I mean women with a couple of babies, a job and a complicated life.

Recently a young woman wrote Pulitzer Prize winning writer and journalist, Connie Schultz, asking for help with how to write with so much going on.  Connie posted a photo of herself writing, obviously exhausted, with a baby in her lap.  I instantly remembered writing for many years with a baby (or two) in my lap.

Young Connie Schultz

As for the exhaustion, I think, being successful as a parent, as well as other parts of your life, means being exhausted for about 40 years (if you're lucky.)


I wrote because it was part of my other work but, since I wanted to be at home as much as possible, I wrote with many distractions.  But the primary reason I wrote was because I had to.  I'm a writer.  And you know that my definition of claiming to "be" any kind of artist is that  - "you have to do it."

And my very favorite kind of writing back then (as it is now) was about my own life.  Much of it was about stuff like the joyful frustration of having a baby (joyfully) dump oatmeal on his head.

Tina Fey, American Express ad

Now I'm no longer exhausted.  Or, when I am, I sit on my favorite place on the couch for as long as I want.  I'm at peace and wouldn't change a thing in my life.












***

The Curious Incident

In 2003 Mark Haddon's amazing book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, was published.  It was an international best seller.  Later on it was adapted as a play on Broadway and received five Tony awards.

I finally read the book over this past (extremely busy) weekend.  It's written in the voice of a brilliant 15 year old autistic boy.

This is from the book jacket:  Christopher knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057.  He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions.  He cannot stand to be touched. 

If you know of anyone on the autism spectrum - from aspergers on - you will love, and learn from, this book.  I could personally relate to Christopher because numbers calm me as well.

And the book is very, very funny.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time  was this month's pick for my book club.   Yesterday we discussed it.  All but a couple of people loved it and the discussion was rich.  There were 20 women in the room.  Nine of them shared that they had grandchildren or other close relatives with some form of autism.  I found this to be astounding.


***

Radical Christianity

Amal Clooney, Muslim

Yesterday in Forum we were introduced to the book, Infidel,  an autobiography by Aynn Hirsi Ali, who was an activist and politician in the Netherlands.  But she was raised by Muslim parents in Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia.  Her childhood was a nightmare experience of beatings and harsh treatment in these radical Islamic countries.

Shaq, Msulim

We had no time for questions or discussion so we were left with a very bad view of Islam.  I was a bit disturbed by this what with our current tragedies in San Bernardina and Paris and the outcry of some of our leaders to come down hard on American Muslims.

Dr. Oz, Muslim

So here's something to think about:  American Muslims are a diverse population (like the rest of us) and have been here for over 400 years.  There are around three million Muslims living in the United States.  Including:

Two U.S congressmen

Athletes Shaquille O'Neal, Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Ellen Burstyn, Muslim

Actress Ellen Burstyn

Journalist and CNN host, Fareed Zakaria

Dr. Oz

Janet Jackson, Muslim

Rapper Ice Cube and music producer Q-Tip

Amal Clooney (wife of George)

Janet Jackson and Jermaine Jackson

Iman (model and wife of David Bowie)

Daily Show correspondent, Aasif Mandvi

The late Casey Kasem

And so on.....

There are varying ideas about how American Muslims should be behaving themselves right now but I'm not as concerned about them as I am about myself.  And my most radical self tells me (from Galatians 5:22) that I should be filled with love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.


***

Reefer Madness

The marijuana propaganda film Reefer Madness, designed to scare teenagers straight, came out in 1936.  I saw it at the drive-in in the 50s.  Even back then we knew it was a crazy, camp film.

And now my city, Altamonte Springs, Florida, in anticipation of Florida passing a bill legalizing medical marijuana (which it has not yet done) has passed a bill banning 27 terms that the medical pot businesses will not be able to use if, in fact, we do have these places in Altamonte Springs.

Orlando Sentinel columnist, Scott Maxwell, calls this a "goofy ordinance."  And maybe goofy is an additional word our city should have banned because, even thought, of course, I've never tried it, I understand that smoking pot can make you do goofy things.  Like eat an entire bag of Doritos while you're sitting on the couch watching "Family Guy."

So, to recap, if Florida should legalize marijuana and if Altamonte Springs businesses are allowed to sell it, there are 27 words they cannot use.  Among them are:

Marijuana, Cannabis, Bong, Grass, Chronic, Pot, Indo, Reefer, Mary Jane, Demp and Wacky-tabacky.

A few of the words are new to me.  So I've learned something.


***

Make Good Art

Jon

Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength.
     Isaiah 40:9

So, this guy who is the young adult minister at my church, (that's ages 20ish to 30ish) occasionally preaches from the pulpit on Sunday mornings.  His name is Jon Tschanz.  He's an amazing human being and an amazing speaker so I'm always happy to hear his wisdom.

By the way, he also always starts his sermon with the word "so."  So that's why I started this blog posting with "So."

So, yesterday was no exception.  Jon always leaves me thinking about his words and leaves me wanting to be creative.  Yesterday he concentrated on the phrase "Make good art."  What does that even mean?  He told us about his friend who does music on the  oncology floor of the hospital, but that was just one small example.

This morning when I got on Facebook I saw photos of my friend Gil and his stupendously cute two year old grandson, Charlie, attending a play and then having pancakes.  And I found myself thanking Gil for making this art for me to see.

Several folks posted photos of their newly trimmed Christmas trees.

Neil

In his sermon, John quoted award winning writer, Neil Gaiman.  I've heard of him but he doesn't do my kind of writing so don't know much about him.  This morning I looked him up.  The quote below is from a commencement speech he made at The University of the Arts, class of 2012.  In the speech he's telling these graduating students to "Make good art"  while also being very realistic about what the future might hold.

I'm serious.  Husband runs off with a politician?  Make good art.  Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor?  Make good art.  IRS on your trail?  Make good art.  Cat exploded?  Make good art.  Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it's all been done before? Make good art.  Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn't matter.  Do what only you do best.  Make good art.

I know Neil is speaking to art students but Jon apparently thinks he's speaking to all of us.  And you know what?  I know he's speaking to me.

***

Passau Poet

If Goethe had had to prepare supper, salt the dumplings;
If Schiller had had to wash the dishes;
If Heine had had to mend what he had torn, to clean the rooms, kill the bugs,
Of the menfolk, none of them would have become great poets. 

       - Emerenz Meier, Bavarian Folk Poet

I took this photo, in Passau, Germany, of the bust of one of Bavaria's greatest poets, Emerenz Meier.  She was also an inn keepers daughter and she was also - as you can see when you read this poem - really frustrated.

I can relate.

I was frustrated and worn out much of my life.  Somebody always needed me.  That's not all bad, but it's hard when all you want to do some days is read and write.  Following is a poem I wrote in the 1970s that pretty much says it all:

I was finally able to meet
The eminent psychiatrist,

Me in Passau on October 28th.
I now have all the time in the world.

Everyone had been talking 
      about.

He shook my hand,
And,
(As I was trying to think of 
     something intelligent to say)             
He said, 
"I've read about your husband
     in the papers,
He's quite a guy."

And I said,
"Oh yeah,
Well, I think they should put this
In the headlines."

CECILY CROSSMAN DID 18 LOADS OF
     WASH THIS WEEK!

Now why did I say that?


***

Rocky

Often, in the fall, when school was about to start, my husband, Ken, and I  would take our kids to the movies.  I don't know if they realized it but we were hoping the film would motivate and inspire them to have a good, strong year.  Often it was a Rocky movie.  They were the best.  

We all came out of the theater thinking we could do anything!

Now I see that Sylvester Stallone has made yet another Rocky movie.  The first one came out in  1976.  It was a huge success, earning $156 million worldwide.  

Stallone wrote all six Rocky movies and directed four of them.  He has said, "Rocky is the one thing I've done right."  I don't know if it's the one thing - but I do know the films told us something about the human spirit in a very powerful way. 

In the new movie Stallone plays the trainer.  He's now the same age Burgess Meredith was in Rocky. 

But all of us have come a long way.  My kids are middle aged and I'm a great grandmother.  But, like many others, I've dreamed about running up those steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and raising my arms in triumph!

I hope your new film inspires us, Mr. Stallone.  We need it.

***

Rich Churches

Melk, Germany

Budapest, Hungary

You know I have a problem with wealthy ministers, priests and churches.  Seeing the amazing churches and cathedrals in Eastern Europe awed me in one sense and troubled me in another.  Every time I saw one I wondered how many thousands suffered in order to get it up.

I was teasing when I said earlier that my church needs to "step it up."  I belong to a wonderful church that worships in a beautiful set of buildings - but my church is absolutely not about the buildings.  I hope this is, and has been, true of some of the ones we saw a couple of weeks ago.

Passau, German 

Regansberg, Germany

We know that the building is not God and people are not God.  We're all flawed and sometimes get our priorities confused.

In Regansberg, Germany we took an architectural tour.  We saw magnificent old buildings, including two Catholic churches.  The one Protestant church was beautiful, but much more plain.

The reason?  Martin Luther was in Regansberg and was appalled by the wealth of the Catholic Churchs.

Wurzberg, Germany

Our guide was Protestant but she said she told her kids that, when she has to go into assisted living, she wants to go to the Catholic facility - because it's better looking and they serve beer.

Cologne, Germany

***

Bamberg

Beautiful homes in Bamberg

About half way through our Viking River Cruise we reached the lovely little town of Bamsberg.  Listed as a UNESCO site, Bamberg has 2,000 buildings listed as historical monuments.

Toward the end of the day Dave and I found ourselves sitting  outside in the sun having espresso and tea.  He was sketching and I was writing about the day.  And what a day it had been in this beautiful town.

Did I ever dream when I
saw this film that I would
visit the home of this man?

Near the entrance to Bamberg from the river there is a plaque honoring Claus Graf Stauffenberg.  He was the guy portrayed by Tom Cruise in the movie, Valkyrie, who was a German soldier but joined the movement and tried to assassinate Hitler.  He's now seen as a hero in Germany.  But our tour guide reminded us that many of these towns mistreated Jews throughout their history.  This included Christians.








The night before this stop in Bamberg our cruise director told us
there would be a demonstration in the town square and we were advised to ignore it.  When we reached the town square we could see that there were several young adults demonstrating about emigration.  I wasn't concerned because most of them were holding up giants hearts.  Not being able to make out their slogan I asked somebody to translate for me.  The slogan was:

Statue in the park

No human is an immigrant.  











***

Human Behavior

As we're all still reeling from the Paris attack and all of its implications Dave and I have been talking about human behavior and how we just don't get it sometimes.

Last week, while we were traveling through Germany,  I found this book of famous German stories.  I read two of the stories, both essentially about human behavior.

The first was Flagman Thiel, written by Gehart Hauptmann in 1887.  In 1912 Hauptmann received the Nobel Prize for literature.  Flagman Thiel is one of the most widely read German stories of all time.

Supposedly about the deadening effects of routine and denial, it's the story of a weak, poor man in a boring job who goes berserk and kills his wife and baby.

The other is The Penal Colony, a famous story written by Franz Kafka in 1919.  If you know anything about Kafka you know he was not a fun guy.  Anyway, the narrative centers on a "machine," that is said to be one of the most brilliant symbols in modern literature.

An officer is in charge of  an intricate machine that is the means of torture and execution in the penal colony.  It's a ghastly, horrible thing but the officer is meticulous in describing it and its various abilities to torture and kill.  He is so proud of it that, in the end, he puts himself in it to experience what it can do.

Why am I thinking of "The Penal Colony" today?  Because Kafka did a good job of helping us to know that human beings are, and have always been, capable of unspeakable acts.

It also helps me, today, in light of the suffering and death caused in the most beautiful city in the world last night, to think about the kind of human being I want to be.


***

Bratislava

So when we left the Drop-Dead-Gorgeous city of Budapest, Hungry we headed down the Danube to Bratislava, Slovakia which borders Austria and Hungary.  The city is dominated by a massive square castle.

Just know that everyplace we went we saw castles, cathedrals, castles, cathedrals.

Cool Statue

Slovakia is centuries old. But I

Square castle on a hill.

was surprised when we took a little drive up into the hills there were several, sophisticated,  contemporary style homes.

We saw several people rub or kiss the
head of this guy coming up out of
the sewer before our guide told us not
to touch him because dogs pee on him
all day long. 

From 1968 to 1989 Slovakia was under communist control.  And in 2005 Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush met in Bratislava for a summit.

Bush and Putin, Bratislava, 2005

Dave and Cess, Bratislava, 2015

***

Bacon is the New Cigarettes

On our recent cruise we experienced three elegant meals - with snacks in between.  Breakfast consisted of a huge buffet with every breakfast item you could imagine, plus a chef preparing egg delights to order.  If that wasn't enough, if we wanted Eggs Benedict or some other more complicated treat, all we needed to do was ask.

And, yes, some folks tended to overindulge. One day I saw a man who had the biggest pile of bacon on his plate that you could imagine and several other meat items.  I'm not making judgements.  I make crazy food decisions from time to time.  We are hard wired to love meat.

Now, as I'm catching up on my Time magazines,  I just finished an article on the new findings about red meat and cancer risk.  Time calls it "The War on Delicious."  Another title I saw was "Bacon is the New Cigarettes."  We've known for a long time that cured meats can hurt us but now we have some definitive evidence about all red meat.

On October 26th, the World Health Organization officially identified processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning the quality of the evidence firmly links to cancer.  Red meats fare little better, falling into Group 2A - foods or substances that probably cause cancer. 

- High Temperatures - Carcinogens can form when meat is fried, roasted or grilled at high temps. Pan frying is the worst.

- Turkey Bacon - Bad news, all processed meat is bad.  There is no bacon loophole.

- No "Other White Meat" - All types of mammalian muscle meat, such as beef, veal, pork, lamb, mutton, horse and goat, are classified as red meat.

- How Much Can Hurt Us? - An average of 50 grams per day of processed meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%.  That's 6 slices of bacon or 1 hot dog, or 2 slices of ham.

I don't know what to make of all this.  I guess I'll just keep heeding the Apostle Paul's advice:  Moderation in all things.

As for the guy having breakfast on the cruise, at least he wasn't smoking!


***

It's So Hot Here I Think I'll Go Back to Budapest

Every time we looked around

There he was that hairy hound from Budapest.

Never leaving us alone, never have I ever known

a ruder pest. 

-  My Fair Lady - "You Did It" lyrics

Yesterday was the hottest November 9th in the history of Orlando, Florida.  We topped out at 91 degrees.  Makes me long for the cool climes of Northern Europe last week. 

Clean, modern toalett

When we planned this trip we could choose to start the cruise in either Amsterdam or Budapest.  We made our choice based on the best time to go but we were both sad that we would essentially miss Amsterdam.  About all I knew about Budapest was from the song lyrics from My Fair Lady copied above.  I always thought it was so cool to rhyme "Budapest" with "Ruder pest."

Shoes

I know you want to hear about restrooms.  They're a big deal.  Years ago when Dave and I walked all over France we had some weird restroom experiences.  Including sometimes just a hole in the floor and most of the time no toilet paper.  Dave took to carrying some in his pocket for me.  So, even though some of the folks were upset because, in most places, it cost 50 euros to pee, I was happy.  Mostly clean and up to date. 

As we walked along the Danube we spied these shoe sculptures along the bank.  They were conceived by film director Can Togay and sculptor Gyula Pauer to honor Jews who were ordered to take off their shoes before being shot on the bank of the Danube in 1944-45.  Very moving site to see.

With new friends rubbing this guy's
belly for luck.

Budapest is some city. 

***

Home - Again

Our Viking Longboat was parked
along side this historic bridge
in Budapest

On October 22nd Dave and I flew to Budapest and began a 16 day trip with Viking River Cruses through northern Europe, ending up in Amsterdam.  They call this The Grand European Cruise.  We got home late Saturday night.

We're feeling like two young lovers  after a fantastic honeymoon.  I'm aching all over and Dave's in the hospital!

Budapest House of Parliament.  We have
a Parliament House in Orlando but it's
nothing like this. 

Actually he just got out of the hospital.  He picked up a bug a few days ago, then, after a grueling 20 hour trip home he fell and hit his head.  Since neither of us had the strength to get him up I called 911.  But after spending the night, getting his head stapled and getting thoroughly checked out, we're back home - again.

But I digress.

Budapest is an astoundingly beautiful city.   As you probably know it used to be two cities: Historic Buda,  on the east bank of the River Danube and upscale, cosmopolitan, Pest on the west.  This was news to me.

Budapest, with over a million people,  is one of the richest and most beautiful cities in the world.  What a great place to start this once in a lifetime journey,


***

What a Trip

Dave and I are on the 8th day of our fantastic 15 day cruise down the Danbue and the Rhine rivers. 

Here are a couple of highlights to hold you until we return home on the 7th.

Weather = Couldn`t be more perfect for this Florida girl.  Highs in the 50s and sunny.  We`ve had zero rain.

Castles and Churches = All over the top magnificent.  I told Dave yesterday that our church (which is beautiful) needs to step it up.

Food = Outstanding.  We usually eat lunch outside and watch the world go by.

People = My favorite part of the trip.

We spent yesterday in Nuremberg. Today we are in a smaller port but this afternoon there will be a demonstration against some decision Angela Merkel has made.  My guess is that it is about immigration.  If we happen upon it we will try to behave ourselves. 

Dave has taken zillians of photos.  I have zillians of stories. I will share the best with you later.


***

Maitland, Florida

Maitland Art Center

Maitland, a town of about 17,000 folks, is just a few blocks from where I live.  Our condo community fronts on Maitland Avenue.

Maitland's reputation is one of soccer moms driving Volvos.  It's an old town with a long history of continuous politics.  Maitland's little downtown is confusing.  A boarded up Winn Dixie grocery store has dominated the main street for several years.   I have no idea where the city hall is (or if there is one.)

A couple of years ago they redid the main intersection and made it many times worse than it was.  Most people try to avoid it.  Maybe that was the point.

I'm in Maitland several times a week.  We must drive through it to get to our favorite city, Winter Park.  There are lovely homes in Maitland but I don't know of any McMansions. Almost all of our doctors' offices are on Maitland Avenue, all within five minutes of our house.  Dave and I love the park.  We love Lake Lily.  We love the Enzian Theater.  We love Antonio's restaurant.  I love the Designer Resale Shop (but getting there requires going through that crazy intersection so I don't stop by as often as I used to.)

Maitland has an old little jewel of an art museum.  It's hidden away and a little hard to find.  It used to be an art colony and I can envision artists and writers from another era being inspired while they hibernated in rooms facing a lovely little courtyard.  But it's quiet and small, not big and shiny.

Today I read that, according to Road Snacks, Maitland made the Top Ten Lists of Snobbiest Cities in Florida.    I don't get it.  Road Snacks measures median home prices, median income, percent of population with a college degree, private schools, theaters and art galleries.

Here's the list:

1.  Sanibel  (A beach town, this makes no sense to me.)
2.  Coral Gables
3.  Naples
4.  Palm Beach
5.  Marco Island
6.  Boca Raton
7.  Parkland (I never heard of Parkland.)
8.  Longboat Key
9.  Key Biscayne
10.  Maitland

No Winter Park on the list.


***

Judgement at Nuremberg

Imperial Palace, Nuremberg, Germany

Less than a month ago, I was talking with a person here in my neighborhood who said to me, in passing, that she used to have a boyfriend who was German but they split up.  When I asked why she said "because he's German."  When I questioned her a bit more she told me that she had sort of gotten over the "hating Germans" thing but then saw the old movie Judgement at Nuremberg and it all came back.

Judgement at Nuremberg is an excellent film staring Burt Lancaster, Spencer Tracy and loads of other well known actors of the time.  To my knowledge, it accurately portrays the Nuremberg trials, the first one of which has been described as "the greatest trial in history."  

And then, just today, I was looking on Facebook at an angelic looking little boy who, when his dad asked what he knew about Germans, he replied,  "They're baddies."

Angela Merkel
Former Research Scientist, Chancellor of Germany
and Leader of the Christian Democratic Union

As it happens Dave and I will be in a few German cities on the Danube in the next few weeks.  We're looking forward to seeing the cities, eating the food, and meeting and getting to know the folks.

We'll visit Nuremberg and, along with seeing the Imperial Palace and the medieval town center, we'll take a World War II tour.  The war which, by the way, ended 75 years ago.  We may see a baddie or two but my guess is that we'll be with lovely people all along the way.

Yes, the German people are noted for strength and tenacity.  If I were ever in a rope pulling contest I would definitely want Chancellor Angela Merkel on my side.


***

Bridge Builders

Yesterday I was early for a meeting so I stopped at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park in Winter Park.  I haven't been there in many years.  This is a lovely 23 acre park with a lake, sports and recreation facilities and a community built bridge.

Twenty or so years ago my husband, Ken, and I, along with many other folks, belonged to a group called Bridge Builders.  It was formed to build better relationships between the traditionally African American section of Winter Park and the other part.

One of the projects, along with the city, was building this park.  It was originally called Lake Island Park and was designed to bring these two communities together.  And now, twenty years later, here it is, still doing it.

As I walked in the park yesterday, I remembered how, in the midst of this project, we learned that Ken was suffering from an illness that would eventually take his life.  And that it would be an expensive process.  How did we react?  One of the things we did was to buy a separate brick  for the bridge honoring every member of our family to symbolize the coming together of people and our hope for the future.  I know some of our kids thought we were crazy.

But here I was yesterday, with the help of one of the caretakers, finding all of the bricks at the foot of the bridge.  It was quite an experience.


***