Times, they are a-changin'...

While I was at General Assembly last week, my children were in the woods of Wisconsin. I met them there Sunday evening and they seemed to have grown immensely - perhaps due to the double breakfasts and double lunches they'd managed to finagle. They'd learned to drive the golf cart through wooded acres, and not only caught and cleaned loads of fish, but to batter and fry them. But they're still happy to climb into my lap and to let me ruffle their hair, so it's all good.

I joined them on the area lakes in my time "Up North" and well, my role was to feed fish worms. But it was lovely weather and there was plenty to see - my breath catches whenever I glimpse a bald eagle. I would point them out and there was no gasping. Just "Uh huh" and back to fishing. And I realized -- in my children's entire lifetimes, our national symbol has been off the endangered list. Heck, those majestic birds have been thriving. Yes, my children have heard my stories of what a big deal it used to be to spot an eagle, how you had to call the DNR to report nest sightings... but those aren't their stories.

The mangy little fox scampering down the bike lane got a bit more notice - they're still less visible and no bobbers held the kids' attention.

Minneapolis Gratitude Exercise #2

1) I've had a lot of opportunities for Calves of Steel workouts. And shoes enough to rotate where the raw spots congregate.
2) I've had any number of really authentic conversations, at nearly every hour of the day. It's a good thing my roommate is the sleeping type, or I'd talk all night.
3) Bacon. My best friend claims that I'm the only person who could come to General Assembly and become less of a vegetarian, but OHhhh, bacon. Salt and crunch and fat. Add some syrup and you get the sweet as well...
4) Rebecca Parker makes my heart sing. (If you missed the John Murray Lecture, you need to seek it out. Really. Don't be me and wear mascara.) And I refrained from leeching on her last night. But it took quite a bit of restraint.
5) Comfortable places to perch - couches and chairs and quiet alcoves -- the third floor restrooms at the Hilton are AMAZING happy coolness, probably costing more than my house. But so hospitable.

(Next: Northwoods Gratitude Exercises...posted after I get back from said woods. Be well, all!)

Synergy celebrated

Last night was Synergy - a multigenerational worship service honoring those bridging from the youth program to young adults. It was lovely. Lovely. (Ok, the gestures for Gathered Here inspired me to start brainstorming what gestures for It's Raining Men might be...)

After, all were invited to a celebration (CAKE!) at the Hilton and then there was a dance. I'll admit, I'm not much of one for dances, at least, not since my own middle school days. And then someone said "80s dance" -- huh. The MUSIC of my own middle school dances.

It was exuberant energy so it took very little to get me in the room, with a LREDA board member coming along. And what was the first song as I got near the floor? Blister in the Sun. Heck yeah.

You'll be happy (?) to know that today's youth know both YMCA and the Macarena, and an assortment of line dances which they probably do not recognize as such. (I resisted the urge to convince the DJ to switch over to Achey-Breaky Heart...) And the age range in the room was easily 15-70, not that I was carding anyone.

Reading List: Salsa, Soul, and Spirit

All our lives, we keep developing--we strengthen our systems if we include study in our business groups as well.

And so I read Salsa, Soul, and Spirit: Leadership for a Multicultural Age


Basic premise: How could our culture of leadership be strengthened by understanding and including perspectives from other traditions?

Author: Juana Bordas - http://www.mestizaleadership.com/books/juana-bordas.php

The book is very accessible with lots of story sharing and led me to some new understandings, not only of Latino, African American, and Native American leadership structures, but of the normative culture's structures. It turns out that some of the things that challenge me in our established UU paradigms are just things that I had never encountered in my Catholic, working class, ginormous family background. Huh.

Of course, as all these books do, this one gives me ideas for more books to read. I definitely need to read some history of the US from non-White perspectives. And probably I need to read a few of the "classic" leadership books so I can have a better understanding of what these rules of the mainstream culture ARE...

Sacred...but it sucks

(I apologize for the crude wording. I'm a product of my generation. I'll consider an edit before I use it from the pulpit.)

Sometimes the hardest, ickiest, most challenging work you do, whether it's home or career or church, is the most meaningful - the stuff that truly transforms you, those around you, and your systems.

That doesn't make it any less hard, icky, or challenging, though.

Well, maybe a little bit, if you realize how sacred it is while you're in the midst of it.

How are you a better person for doing something that, oh gosh, you really did not want to do?

Verklempt at GA

I walked in to the Opening Ceremonies frazzled and worn--it had been a long day, the third one this week. There was lots of new and lots of chaos. And you know -- I just wasn't feeling the spirit. I did a bit of networking and flipped through my program, trying to figure out what workshops look good for tomorrow. Tired. Bleh.

And then the Standing on the Side of Love posse walked in with their HUGE banner and the buttons to hand up up up the stands. And I cried a little. And we saw the banner for the Annapolis church (a flaming...crab) and I giggled a little.

And then Peter Mayer started Holy Now. I even knew it was coming AND have heard him perform it live before. And still, I was GONE. Tears running down my face, whispering along.

And then the folks from the various MN congregations? Oh, folks - if you were not there you need to watch the recording as soon as it comes up. People - that right there? That was my goals for my career and my religious community, up on the big screen.

Then more Peter Mayer, in multiple arrangements. MMmmmpf. Stick a fork in me - I'm done.

Minneapolis Gratitude Exercise #1

1) Friendly and helpful staff at hotels, restaurants, stores
2) Nicollet Mall is a great street to walk down, with lots of fun and beautiful things to see.
3) The SkyWalk is nice when it's suddenly hot and steamy and I'm not wearing as much sunscreen as I should be.
4) Having a fridge in both hotel rooms means I can bring home tasty leftovers and go to Kowalski's (grocery) for fruit and cheese and half and half.
5) Breakfast included at hotel #2 means I get to make myself a waffle in 6.5 hours.

Oops. I should probably get to sleep, so tomorrow I can include a gratitude statement about six hours of uninterrupted and comfortable sleep.

Oh gosh, I never answered the UU Salon question...

and I'm up to my neck in wonderful busy meetings and professional development and then taking on my very first General Assembly? And yeah, my hotel internet runs out in 12 minutes.

Oh, sweet friends, I'll just offer a song to feed the soul, ok?

(And that question is up at http://uusalon.blogspot.com/2010/05/june-big-question.html !)

Personal archeology

I'm clearing out the STUFF of my life. All the detritus that I sort through whenever I want to get to one specific something. I'm hopeful that this will save me time at some point, but for now, it's arduous and sweaty, sometimes anxious, often boring.

I collect cookbooks, but I make up recipes off the top of my head. Something there doesn't compute. So two big boxes out the door, handed off to friends who gleefully cracked them open and got to work.

This week my kids were roped into the struggle. (There was weeping about this NOT being a vacation for them...) Pulled all their books off their bookcase and asked which they wanted to keep...the others becoming a third grade library for a friend who'll return to the classroom in the fall. The kids had outgrown the majority of these books, and we hadn't really noticed. Hadn't taken the time.

Yesterday I finally gave in and emptied the large closet in our spare room. That's when it hit me - I was unpacking old versions of myself. Or scarier, old versions of my expectations of myself. Quilts I had started but not quite finished. Dried flowers--really? Was there ever a real plan, or just some idea that a suburban housewife would know to do SOMETHING with such things? Once I made that realization, it was much much easier to cull. I kept my sewing machine, four pieces of fabric (each with a specific project in mind), enough fiberfill to restuff some flattened pillows, and my mending box. Oh, and the glue gun, for the kids' class projects. One small box of stuff we might use for Sunday school, and all the rest we took to a center for artists. And now we have a mostly empty closet--welcoming for our guests, and a bit more breathing room for all of us.