Sort, Pack: Day II
Today is another very hot day in DC. (What are we doing to reverse Global Warming?) Jason was up at 8 AM and off to PT by 9 after a shower. We turn the air conditioning off only during showers and dressing in the morning, otherwise it is kept on high. I got Jason a bagel for breakfast and picked up the USA Today which is running a week long series on Global Warming and its effects on our finite and fragile planet. I headed to the WR loading dock to pick up boxes promised me by one of the workers yesterday. She was not present nor were any boxes set aside. So I asked another employee and we found some, too large to ship. I thought I would take a few in case Jason needs to store items at Dan's. Jason already has his "Iraq green box" he calls it,taken to Iraq and back. I can't figure out how Dan and Jason are going to get heavy boxes into Dan's apartment. I am thinking of Jason with one hand and lifting weight limitations after his surgery.
I took a nostalgic walk up Georgia Ave to Silver Spring this morning in the heat of the day. Knowing that "I shall not walk this way again." I passed the stores and restaurants we had visited and said one last "Hello" to the cat in the window of the art store. I headed toward WATER in the World Building and my last counseling with Diann Neu D. Min and LCSW. I thanked them for the copy of "The Tent of Abraham" Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims by Rabbi Waskow, Joan Chittister OSB and Saadi Shakur Chrishti. It will be released in July. We reflected on the changes in my life because of the combat injuries to Jason and the work that lay ahead when I return to Chicago. I stopped at Ritz camera and purchased a "click and shoot," no digital for this 20th century woman, ate one last lunch of a Ceasar's salad at Panera's, and begin my last 2.5 mile walk South. I stopped to get an ice cream cone, butter pecan, my favorite at a small private organic ice cream shop.
As I was walking on Georgia, wearing my floppy sun hat an African American father with a baby in his arms and a hanging on for dear life to a pulling away toddler came toward me, "Hello beautiful" he exclaimed to me. I smiled, "Thank you and have a wonderful day" was this 63 year old grandmother's reply. For I had been thinking, "What a wonderful sight a father and his sons," and I know fathers and sons are together all over the world, especially in Iraq, and their right is to live in peace. I think we mothers and sisters and daughters and grandmothers MUST make it happen yet another generation of children will be lost to war. As Paul VI wrote, "If you want peace, work for justice." And as I prepare to leave Walter Reed Sophia, the Spirit of Godde within reaffirms my work ahead. Let us pray for the gifts of Pentecost which we celebrate this coming Sunday, that the Spirit will more fully bring to our hearts and minds the Truth "that renews the face of the Earth."
Jason and Bryan left for the X-Men and Macaroni Grill at 4 and I took a quick nap as the heat of DC took my energy away. Then I had to catch the Metro as Jason had commandeered his car for the first time. Nancy and Ken, bless their hearts picked me up at the Metro stop near Quixote and I attended my last liturgy and potluck dinner. Nancy made wonderful recipes from the book A Bad Catholic's Book of Good Living or something close to that. It is a fun look at the "Lives of the Saints" with special recipes for some of the feasts. We had chicken with apricots and for dessert a apple crisp with raisins soaked in whiskey. Very, very good.
Litury was our celebration of Pentecost and we focused on "What does Pentecost mean to us?" During our shared reflection, I read a passage from the book cited earlier The Tent of Abraham and that I had also shared on my visit to Jonah House. I experience both of these Centers for Peace and Justice enfleshing the Evolutionary Vision of Sophia for humanity. I quote, "One of the most important teachings of these rabbis was that the Torah was written not in black ink on white parchment but in black fire on white fire and that the white fire, the 'blank' spaces, were waiting in every generation to be read anew." (Rabbi Waskow, pg 19) As we prepare to celebrate Pentecost in Christian churches across the USA this weekend, I encourage you to seek ways to discover your unique gifts given by the Spirit, be renewed in those you know and answer the call to be justice and peace with your lives. What is the "white fire" of Pentecost exhorting you and your faith community to do? Or as Brianne Swimme and Thomas Berry wrote in The Universe is a Green Dragon, "What is your allurement?" as that is how the evolutionary creation of the Universe captures us. Follow your allurement (your passion) and you will change, working together we create the present and the future.
Jason was taling to Jodi on the phone when I returned, played his game for a while, read his book for a while and it was lights out something close to midnight.
Soldiers:
As I was attempting to carry the boxes from WR to Mologne today and slogging up "Mologne Hill," a kind woman soldier asked, "Can I help you carry those?" She has been called to Active Duty and will be in charge of the VIP ward, 71, and the Psychiatric wards and a couple of others. I told her a little of Jason's story and invited her into to Mologne to see our room as she has only recently arrived. She was taken aback because it "is not homey" but "cold." She was thankful for the quick "tour" and said she would keep Jason in her prayers, gave me a hug and was on her way. May God bless her for her "random act of kindness." To me she is the best of our American Spirit, ideals and military. To reach out to those in need, a small deed but comfort for my soul. Blessings on her work at WR and all the staff she will work with.
I took a nostalgic walk up Georgia Ave to Silver Spring this morning in the heat of the day. Knowing that "I shall not walk this way again." I passed the stores and restaurants we had visited and said one last "Hello" to the cat in the window of the art store. I headed toward WATER in the World Building and my last counseling with Diann Neu D. Min and LCSW. I thanked them for the copy of "The Tent of Abraham" Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims by Rabbi Waskow, Joan Chittister OSB and Saadi Shakur Chrishti. It will be released in July. We reflected on the changes in my life because of the combat injuries to Jason and the work that lay ahead when I return to Chicago. I stopped at Ritz camera and purchased a "click and shoot," no digital for this 20th century woman, ate one last lunch of a Ceasar's salad at Panera's, and begin my last 2.5 mile walk South. I stopped to get an ice cream cone, butter pecan, my favorite at a small private organic ice cream shop.
As I was walking on Georgia, wearing my floppy sun hat an African American father with a baby in his arms and a hanging on for dear life to a pulling away toddler came toward me, "Hello beautiful" he exclaimed to me. I smiled, "Thank you and have a wonderful day" was this 63 year old grandmother's reply. For I had been thinking, "What a wonderful sight a father and his sons," and I know fathers and sons are together all over the world, especially in Iraq, and their right is to live in peace. I think we mothers and sisters and daughters and grandmothers MUST make it happen yet another generation of children will be lost to war. As Paul VI wrote, "If you want peace, work for justice." And as I prepare to leave Walter Reed Sophia, the Spirit of Godde within reaffirms my work ahead. Let us pray for the gifts of Pentecost which we celebrate this coming Sunday, that the Spirit will more fully bring to our hearts and minds the Truth "that renews the face of the Earth."
Jason and Bryan left for the X-Men and Macaroni Grill at 4 and I took a quick nap as the heat of DC took my energy away. Then I had to catch the Metro as Jason had commandeered his car for the first time. Nancy and Ken, bless their hearts picked me up at the Metro stop near Quixote and I attended my last liturgy and potluck dinner. Nancy made wonderful recipes from the book A Bad Catholic's Book of Good Living or something close to that. It is a fun look at the "Lives of the Saints" with special recipes for some of the feasts. We had chicken with apricots and for dessert a apple crisp with raisins soaked in whiskey. Very, very good.
Litury was our celebration of Pentecost and we focused on "What does Pentecost mean to us?" During our shared reflection, I read a passage from the book cited earlier The Tent of Abraham and that I had also shared on my visit to Jonah House. I experience both of these Centers for Peace and Justice enfleshing the Evolutionary Vision of Sophia for humanity. I quote, "One of the most important teachings of these rabbis was that the Torah was written not in black ink on white parchment but in black fire on white fire and that the white fire, the 'blank' spaces, were waiting in every generation to be read anew." (Rabbi Waskow, pg 19) As we prepare to celebrate Pentecost in Christian churches across the USA this weekend, I encourage you to seek ways to discover your unique gifts given by the Spirit, be renewed in those you know and answer the call to be justice and peace with your lives. What is the "white fire" of Pentecost exhorting you and your faith community to do? Or as Brianne Swimme and Thomas Berry wrote in The Universe is a Green Dragon, "What is your allurement?" as that is how the evolutionary creation of the Universe captures us. Follow your allurement (your passion) and you will change, working together we create the present and the future.
Jason was taling to Jodi on the phone when I returned, played his game for a while, read his book for a while and it was lights out something close to midnight.
Soldiers:
As I was attempting to carry the boxes from WR to Mologne today and slogging up "Mologne Hill," a kind woman soldier asked, "Can I help you carry those?" She has been called to Active Duty and will be in charge of the VIP ward, 71, and the Psychiatric wards and a couple of others. I told her a little of Jason's story and invited her into to Mologne to see our room as she has only recently arrived. She was taken aback because it "is not homey" but "cold." She was thankful for the quick "tour" and said she would keep Jason in her prayers, gave me a hug and was on her way. May God bless her for her "random act of kindness." To me she is the best of our American Spirit, ideals and military. To reach out to those in need, a small deed but comfort for my soul. Blessings on her work at WR and all the staff she will work with.
posted by Katy (Scott) Zatsick | 5/31/2006 08:33:00 AM
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