2008-02-17

Our Sabbath weather was balmy and eerie, the temperature rising to 60 F and the winds high. Clouds rolled past without let all day, the weather as active as I have ever seen it here. Experts are muttering about tornadoes again being possible because of these extremes of temperature. I was thrilled that our power stayed on!

Mick and I stayed inside all day, keeping quiet and healing up. Jim seems close to completely recovered now, and I heard that Gary, who called Mick from his girlfriend’s, has now passed the crisis and his fever is broken. This is wonderful news, and it bodes well for me, as I seem to have the same bug. I coughed all day, my chest becoming involved, unfortunately. It is a lucky happenstance that I will see the ear specialist tomorrow, for if, as I suspect, I have a need for antibiotics, he can prescribe some.

We managed, however, to have a delightful day. I did my puzzles and wrote my journals while Mick cleaned house. Then we enjoyed two movies during the afternoon. The first was a small movie – just one copy at the video store – called The Hunting Party. It starred Richard Gere and Terrence Howard as a team of journalists covering various wars. It was a taut script, an excellent ensemble, deft in its flow and altogether admirable. I especially appreciated the casting of Ljubomir Kerekes as “The Fox”, the villain of the piece. He seemed the perfect foil for Gere’s anti-hero. I single out both Terrence Howard and Richard Gere for special marks as their characterizations of a former danger addict gone soft and then reborn and a burned-out case resurrected were complex and fascinating.

Our second feature of this double bill was an elegant, large, sprawling and very British film called Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The production values were as lavish as the acting was excellent. The depiction of the sea battle of the 1585 Spanish Armada’s attempt at conquering England was a triumph of visual effects. It is a good way to learn history! And the costumes were incredible! I thank the Lord that I am not living in those times. Corseted, bewigged and surrounded by acres of skirts, women of that time and class must have spent half their time dressing! Both Cate Blanchett and Clive Owen were delicious to watch.

We enjoyed the two-hour Extreme Make-over show in the evening. The cast of that show had chosen to work with a local family, the Hughes, whose son, Patrick Henry, was born blind and unable to walk. In spite of those seeming disadvantages, he has grown up to be a charming, solid, stable and remarkably grounded 19-year-old. He was a musician from babyhood, playing the piano by the age of two and taking up the trumpet and the guitar as well.

His Dad chose to take a night job so that he could interact with Patrick during the daytime and when Patrick wanted to join the U of L marching band, his Dad pushed his wheelchair and enabled his son to be part of the formations. Patrick’s attitude is that his blindness has enabled him to see people differently. He cannot be prejudiced by how people look, so all his valuations stem from his sense of the inner soul of the people he meets. He says, "I am just a regular guy, living my life."

The Extreme Makeover crew built Patrick’s family a house with rooms for each child and an apartment for Patrick where all the counters and appliances are at wheelchair level so he can be quite independent in his own “bachelor pad”, as he called it with delight.

It is too well known a story now for me to write about him as a difference-maker in my UPI columns of the future – I plan to take them up again as soon as I knock out this book – but he certainly is an inspiration!

Mick and I offered the Gaia Meditation, with him praying at the end, and we closed the day with a very healing and uplifting sexual energy exchange which gave me my only cough-free hours of the day as well as offering praise, joy and thanksgiving.