West Coast Sabbath Peace, llvl

Last night we sat at dinner with Steve’s kids and their kids and Steve’s ex and her husband. It was a great dinner in so many ways. First the food. One daughter in particular is a great cook, so yum. One of the sweetest things about marrying Steve, and there are many, is the gift of his family.

But to sit and hear the kids tell stories about growing up was lovely. It was great to hear Steve and Shirley laugh together about life starting out. It’s what family’s meant to be, I think, easy… The two of them are long past their split and their differences and able to remember that they cared for one another. Kids deserve that.

It all made me very happy… particularly watching the littles get doted on by many of their grands. We’re not sure how we missed inviting Gary’s parents, but next time!

I couldn’t help being sad, however, that big assemblies around tables are not really in my family of origin’s future, they’re in my past. We did this a lot — all of us gathered around Deb’s table. So while I was rejoicing in having the crowd there and being part of maneuvering to get everyone together… I was also mourning…

Isn’t that just what life is the richness of today (if you’re being smart and persistent) and the richness of the past. All of that leads to the possibility of a rich future… but in the moment, as I sit here writing with my grandson snuggled in beside me, thinking about last night’s food and laughter and love… I miss Deb (and Betty and Sam) and Deb’s family gathered with Tom’s family in laughter and Peace. Sabbaths to remember. And now? New Families. new Peace. new Work: Got to keep making more sweet Sabbaths! Peace be with us all in our open- and our broken-heartedness..

Blending Peace, llvl

Steve and I both lived in the Bay area for important periods of our life. But since we didn’t know each other then, we have whole periods of our lives to explore. Yesterday we sat at a table with friends from our pasts.

It wasn’t so much a get to know you fest as it was a delighted parallel conversation with a little overlap… but oh it was grand. Marriages late in life come with a lot of unshared territory. Since we’re now living across the country from our pasts, it takes very deliberate work to weave them into our present.

I confess, I’m more interested in this than Steve is, although he’s always happy to come along for the ride. What’s true? We’ve had some very interesting blends. I’m so grateful.

And I’m just reveling in the people I have loved a long time. Visiting is grand. And reveling too in the fact that my present is where it is. Home sweet home AND home away from home. Life is sweet. Peace is elusive but so worth the work! And Friendship, I believe, is the gateway to Peace. And then? there’s family!

The Scent of Peace Past, llvl

It’s been wonderful to step back into my past for a bit… and somewhat jarring. The changes that have happened gradually in my old life arrive in my heart as one big shock.

I didn’t see the neighborhood kids grow up, although i watch them on facebook. But when I go back to the old place, it’s oddly empty. And in my absence, gentrification has really hit the neighborhood… only one black family left on the block. That’s a pretty stark reminder of the way the world changes.

And it’s not just the kids who have grown up. The fig tree did and my Lincoln rose. My roommate, so much younger than I… still in her thirties when I left, is now the “elder” at her gig. Hi-larious!

But still I recognize the bones and love this life deeply. And the sweet relationships that knew me when… and helped to shape me. So happy to remember! Lucky to have had a life with sweet, sweet memories, scented by a beautiful rose! And for the moment I’ll hold that scent in my heart. Peace be with you.

Peace…

Peace from the Past, llvl

Ahhhhhhhh…

When the past was good, it’s good to visit. I spent last night at the house I lived in for 4 years. When I moved back East, my friend’s beloved moved in, so I get to go back to my neighborhood to visit… It is such a sweet thing. Of all the places I’ve lived, this place had about the best la vida local. It was a neighborhood… yeah, even kind of a ‘hood, but delightful for all that.

And as Jen and I were arriving from different places, another neighbor who doesn’t live here any more, walked out of her mom’s house. Hugs all around! Not two hours before that, I had run into a former wedding client in my friend’s fabulous store. Connections! Community! Life! Love!

I’m short on time, trying to fit everyone into my two minutes here, which is ridiculous and i can’t. But I’m getting a good armful of people I care about and miss a lot. The past has it’s own special Peace. Sometimes it’s because you’ve made Peace with the hard parts. Sometimes it’s because making new memories with the folks you made old memories with is the sweetest thing in the world. Living la vida local… past and present. It’s a good thing… good too to remember it’s not a new thing in my life. Rollin’ in the Peace. May you do the same!

Warm, Expanding Peace, llvl

Warm air. It’s quite a remarkable thing. Warm, flower-scented air, even more delightful. The opening continues to catch me off guard in a delightful way.

And I’ve stepped, momentarily, into warm scented air that I used to know. I’m visiting a friend, walking paths of earlier days, letting the memories roll out. And so many of these memories have no overlay of the grief I have recently encountered. They have their own remembered challenges, but also many, many, many sweet triumphs… and giggles. There were lots of giggles. And this is a place where I moved from the person I had been to the person I would become/was being.

It’s wonderful to be making new memories in a place of old community and connection.

This place is much farther into Spring than the place I left. And I’ll miss that brave unfolding with daring daffodils defying the chill and the breeze to bloom, damn it! But here things are bravely lush, defying the drought. There is here a determination to bloom as fierce as any. (Sweet Deb, for bringing back the angel, surrounded in truth and possibility!)

This is sere landscape. But not right now. Right now it is as rich and lush as my memories and sweet on the heart. Peace Pieces, back from the past. Blessed be… Blessed am.

Working on the Peace Web, llvl

Ecology is the scientific study of organisms and their interaction. Deep ecology looks at the inherent worth of living beings. As the human way of life continues to degrade the environment, we begin to realize that we must begin to weave together the fate of others with our own. It is, perhaps, the only way we can put the breaks on climate change.

But we must look at the human connections as well. Because we’re also allowing them to degrade. World views of the other as outside of me are what allow us to continue to wage war against each other. But we wage such wars against ourselves. We are connected. Families killed in wars are our families. Families killed in natural catastrophes are our families. Families killed in famine are our families. Famines that are caused by us? What sort of horror is that?

People are hungry all over the world. People are hungry in our country for so many economic reasons that are hugely complicated. Some of us are well suited to working at those deep reasons, and to you I say, bravo and go! Others of us can only gather up the money to make a difference right where we are. That is also hugely important. Hungry children are our children and we pay a huge societal price if we do not care for them. I would tell you that we pay a moral and personal price if we don’t, as well.

We need to start (keep on) noticing the connections. We need to start patching up the places they are fraying. Deep Ecology. Deep Societal Ecology. There’s a place for each of us, a connection we are best suited to reweave. Let us make Peace at the frayed edges of Life.

Feelin’ it Peace, llvl

Sunday we had a humor service at church. I tend to love humor as it occurs rather than as it’s planned, but I admit it, I roared… The kids were hilarious. The other guy definitely upstaged me, glad i wasn’t competing. I did my usual oh, so meaningful sermon. (eyes roll) But it seemed to go over.

What I love about this community is that we laugh all the time. When we’re working on hard things and when life is going along easily. What I also love is that we cry easily too. We’re willing to invest in one another and experience the edges of life, which are often sharp and uncomfortable and to do that right alongside the mundane and daily life.

Emotions exist to be experienced. I’m not talking about drama queens, I’m talking about life’s normal ups and downs. What does it mean that we have drugs we inject into our foreheads and our upper lips so that we have no lines? I’m not excited I’m older, I’m far creakier than I was. Yes I have very different fun than I used to have, but I had that fun and that wasn’t better, it just was. Life’s an amazing thing. And of course, getting older means living a rich life of memory and possibility. It means more moments of self reflection and more moments of pure magic. And it means finding your equilibrium, your balance.

One thing we know about these great prophets is that were in life. May the same be said for us!

Techy Sabbath Peace, llvl

Ah, Grandma May… you taught me a lot about watching over the neighborhood and being a fierce warrior, protecting it. You lived there and nothing was going to harm it on your Neighborhood Watch! True of you, true of all the Queens of Aileen Street. You taught us to take care, to stand up straight and to acknowledge every single person on the street.

Even the most sullen teenage boys were sure to say hi and smile at you as if they meant it. It was sweet — and it was a good model. They learned; we all learned.

Today I watch your “kids” from the Facebook Street. They post their pictures, they open their hearts. I get to applaud their successes, commiserate on their losses, and be stunned by their beauty and sweetness. We visit a little back and forth. Because of Facebook, Aileen Street still lives in me. And oh those girls are gorgeous! And better yet? kind. And the community continues.

And there are other streets as well, and that’s so wonderful. A couple of those streets are across an ocean, some across a continent, some spread across a region, and some right here. Come Sunday, it’s time to sit out on my stoop (both real and virtual) and pass the time of day. Good day. How’re you doing?

Sitting on the virtual stoop means when I visit in real time that we can just pick up chatting and visiting where we left off. Sitting on the local one means getting to know and love the neighbors. (only once in a while can I hear May’s voice saying, “Who told her she could wear that?” and “If her grandma could see the way she keeps that lawn!” But always there was the love.

Tech Peace. Local Peace. Sabbath Peace. How wonderful when they work. Finding the balance is the key!

Feeding for Peace, llvl

It’s pretty bottom line. In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, food and shelter come first. It’s astonishing and awful that we live in an abundant world where too many don’t care that so many go unfed.

If we move farther up the pyramid do we become incapable of imagining hunger? Is that why we’re so callous? It’s hard for me to comprehend that people are just mean. But certainly people find it hard to think beyond themselves…

Someone mentioned recently that happy used to mean that you had those basic needs met. Now we hear we can’t be happy until we have x or y or z.

But right here, in River City, people are hungry. $2 a weekend to feed a hungry child. $80 for a school year. $104 for a whole year if there were summer weekend feeding programs. It’s no money at all for a weekend. And a lot of money to feed the children who are hungry.

Other people will worry about how we got here. Or at least I hope so. I hope they’ll push and push and work to change it. It’s why we have a community, because I have another job to do. I’m going to walk around and ask for money. A little money and a lot of money. Because children are hungry. I’m going to ask you to become my ally in this and maybe a sponsor. Because children are hungry. And if you don’t live where I do, I’m going to ask you to look around. Same reason, hungry children.

There are so many reasons why hungry children are a terrible idea. Again, There are others working on that. But right here, right now… hungry children. No Justice no Peace. I hear you, Bob. Hungry children are injustice of the bitterest sort. You can go here, if you want to help locally. Pretty soon you can go there if you want to set up a weekend back pack program anywhere, because we’re going to have lots of good information about how to do that, working with the Food Banks. It’s a lot of work. But it’s important and fulfilling.

There is nothing more local than the people who live where you do. We’re aware that if we don’t tend to all of Nature, the World suffers. The same thing is true with society — we need, perhaps to become Deep Societal Ecologists. If the children aren’t fed, there are all sorts of implications down the line. Break in where you can. Feed local kids, become a local Peacemaker. Living la vida local. Living your Love locally. Peace.

Head Start Peace, llvl

Steve and I played and read yesterday at a local Head Start. Pennsylvania chooses a book every year to give to the kinds and local people are invited in to read it to the kids. Yesterday we got to be the guests in the classroom. (Year three for us and counting!)

It’s a fun day for us, once we get past the bothersome figuring out of who’s going to do what… play this, read it this way. But the joy of doing what you love and are good at with the one you love, we’re aware not everyone has that opportunity and we’re so grateful and flat out happy. And when you add in little ones and then Head Start the Happy Stew just gets richer.

When you’re privileged to walk into a Head Start class you can almost see kids stretching and growing through the patient love and skills of the teachers. When we talk about heros, it’s so often the folks who walk into burning buildings. But I’m telling you, it’s also the people (all women in this case) who, day after day, walk into a class full of youngsters and make a monumental change in their lives. Some of them are excited newbies; some of them are seasoned and constant. And always, there’s a class grandma with a lap full of contented child.

We were guests not only of the teachers, but also of people who train and evaluate those teachers. Their dedication to and faith in the Program is astonishing. When was the last time you went to a workplace where no one was jaded? It’s being present to a miracle.

Head Start matters, my friends. There’s talk about gutting it or getting rid of it altogether. Head Start helps to level a wildly inequitable playing field. It helps to make a difference at the beginning of children’s lives, starting them out to become strong and powerful adults. We need to take very good care of such an important process. Head Start is a constant reminder that magic is the result of very hard work.

Our keeping faith with Head Start is an important step in keeping faith with Peace. However you can help, from voting to lobbying, please do. Let’s make giving thanks an active verb, shall we?

Sacred Village

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