2006-12-22

The rains continued all day, with warm breezes and a feeling of spring. It is shirtsleeve weather again for a brief time!

After Morning Offering I came upstairs to deal with my burgeoning Inbox. I had received about 40 e-mails from fellow columnists at UPI and read them all before sending my own greetings back to them. I was impressed by the number of columnists who were actively working as inspirational speakers, healers or therapists and suggested in my return greetings to them all that it might be helpful for all concerned to meet and share perspectives. One never knows what collaboration may serve the greater good! Later in the day I received an e-mail from Sharon Hooper, one of the UPI columnists, who has decided to take on that project of getting us together. I told her to let me know what I could do to help. I’m a great believer in the power of a group of like-minded people to offer service to others.

I then returned to my MacDuffie project. I had received word from Sarah Bird, who edits the MacDuffie alumnae newsletter magazine, that she had to cut a lot of my text because of space constraints in the newsletter. I had figured she would need to do that, as I sent a full five pages of copy.

So I created a letter to my classmates, attaching the full text of my update article and also writing about my hopes to foster community in our class and come together for our 50th reunion in five years. I got that all together and sent it directly to those on my MacDuffie database with e-mail addresses. Then I sent the letter to Sarah with a request that she mail it out to the snail-mail people on the list.

While I was writing Sarah, I also wrote a letter to a student at MacDuffie who had asked me a question about why I had left International Studies as a major after three semesters of college, as she also was interested in entering International Studies. I wanted to encourage her to press forward with her interest. I explained my reasons for leaving politics behind and entering other professions – simply a mismatch between my gifts and the job of politician. I am the world’s most gullible human being and naïve in my idealism. Such traits will not make good politicians. One needs to be able to maintain one’s integrity and focus while dealing constantly with very murky ethical issues. I told her, by all means, go for it!!! We so desperately need good candidates these days.

I took time out for a trip to Images Salon, where I transformed into a Christmas elf, tinting my hair a dark green. It’s a pretty effect, as I have green in my eyes. I imagine it will not please everyone, especially at church, but it makes me smile!

Jim was “working alive” today, to use a local county expression describing a one-armed paperhanger. He was moving fast all day! He is doing a thorough clean-up on all his mowers and other machinery, putting them to bed for the winter. The garage is looking more and more spiffy.

The remainder of my work day was spent in writing letters. I wrote to Connie M, to whom I also sent the channeling transcripts she was missing and my latest UPI articles.

Then I wrote to Papa. I had started Papa’s letter in Nebraska and had hoped to spend a good bit more time on it, but that did not happen. So I wrote a bit more to finish the letter, printed out what I had written and added my Christmas presents and a CD Gary had prepared of all my Camelot Journal entries and UPI articles written since I last wrote Papa. I also sent Papa the writing I have done so far on The Choice 101. It made a considerable package!

Jim got all the rest of our Christmas presents for those far away ready to mail as well. We will have a nice bunch of “care packages” to send out to loved ones tomorrow. They are going to be late for opening on Christmas, but fortunately we do not have picky friends!

Gary and Jim carried our two extra mattresses upstairs to make a bed on the floor in my Cousin Carlos’s guest room. We shall have Carlos and Flora, plus little 3-year-old Naira, in there, and we needed that third bedstead. By stacking the two mattresses on the floor, we made a nice bed for her. It is good to get that done, as it is the second to last big piece to slide into place before we are ready for our guests.

The last piece, a new toilet seat for the upstairs bathroom, was bought today. It shall be installed tomorrow. Our poor old toilet seat! It was a soft seat, and the kittens took to chewing on it. Pretty soon our seat had sprung leaks everywhere and the inner material was beginning to leak out. Our new seat is wooden! That should be harder to destroy!

After our bath, Jim and I had a romantic tryst before coming downstairs to investigate supper and to say good-bye to Gary, who is headed to Ohio with Valerie for Christmas with his family. Suddenly the house was empty! We offered the Gaia meditation, with me offering the ending prayer, and then came upstairs to glory in our solitude. It will not last long! We said good night around 11 PM.