PLAY

When we were kids on the corner of the street, We were rough and ready guys, but oh, how we could harmonize..."  Remember that song?  I was very young.

The song triggers good memories of childhood.

Before seven years old, I could walk to where  my cousins' lived. One time I walked there to watch them put on a show on their porch.

Not long after, we moved to Whitesboro.

Many girls and a couple of boys of the same age lived on the street of new homes.

 I have no memory of what inspired us, but our play together included many shows.

Each show had a humorous skit, learned at Girl Scout  or church camp, singing, dancing, and instrumentals, complete with costumes and props.

Mind you, we were nowhere near the teen age  - but, my how we would harmonize.

"Heart of my heart, our friends were dearer then, too bad we had to part..."

Taken by Jean Guenther, another version of this is the Logo for
 Psychosynthesis: the Heart of Systems Transformation
Burlington, VT, June 21-13, 2013.

STORMS

Thunder storms every day now are becoming a way of life for us in North Central Florida.

Last week, a storm came from the East, the thunderhead striking lightning like a mouthful of fangs, as it crossed the lake.

While sitting on the porch watching it, lightning struck the lawn not ten feet in front of me.

Today, while driving down Route 17 to home, the regular afternoon storm appeared ahead of me, behind me, and on both sides.  

As I drove into the storm, I was observing the formation of a funnel just ahead. 

Yes, I did ask myself why was I continuing to drive into this.

My meager answer was that the west wind was blowing too fast to let the funnel drop.

So on I went, deep into the storm center, listening to NPR as I crept on down the road, not knowing what to expect - nor really caring one way or another.

Then there was the dark and stormy night, recently, in Upstate New York, driving to and through Vermont to New Hampshire. 

The GPS was our faithful guide through the familiar unknown then, too.

ROOTS

My Dad and his two brothers sang in Grace Church Cathedral Boys Choir.

Our family always attended midnight mass on Christmas Eve there.

Jeanne, who sang regularly in a quartet with Dad, was a member of this church, sang in the choir and was a soloist.

Jeanne was very much a mother for me when I was young. When she finally became mother of her own children, we assumed more of an Aunt-Niece relationship. I babysat for all three of her kids.

Later, as a woman myself and we being fifteen years apart, we became more like sisters. She was the one woman in my life with whom I shared those secrets you don't tell anyone else.

Her granddaughter ,Jennifer, now a close friend with me, grew up singing in Grace Church Cathedral.

While I was in the area for my high school reunion, I attended Sunday service.

Jennifer was there. I was with my dear friend, Linda,  and I also realized my brother was there when we all went to receive communion.

Jeanne has passed into the next realm, but I am sure she was present to experience her son, his wife, and their son and daughter singing in Grace church Cathedral as a quartet.

Only the faces and styles and configurations change through the generations.

Although, I am but grafted onto an ancient tree, I felt my roots as alive and well in Grace Church Cathedral.

EFFULGENCE

Our reunion weekend was nothing less than effulgence in the raw.

After fifty years of living, whether having known one another in the meantime or not, the energy was wild with abandon.

Our class is a healthy bunch - nice people- happy people.

Each recognition, which wasn't all that easy, was accompanied by an outburst of welcoming hugs and questions.

Conversations were filled with gratitude for the listener and the listening.

But, the dancing was definitely memorable.  Zorba energy was alive and well that evening at Harts Hill Inn as the dance floor was filled more than ever with sheer unadulterated effulgence.

How healing to dance with wild heart-filled abandon fifty years later, here at almost twilight time.

Firenze at Villa La Stella at Sunset.