The Beginning

Yesterday I realized something more concretely than before: I need to communicate. Just get things out there. So, why not blog it, I thought. Hardly matters if anyone reads it or not; it will be therapeutic for me. At least I'll get it out.

This thought may have started on Sunday at church, when I walked through the doors to find a dear church member at church for the first time since a bad fall, in her wheelchairs, surrounded by some of her adoring fans. Right before her fall, she had decorated her gorgeous 8 ft. Frazier Fir for Christmas. After her fall, she insisted it find a new home. So her doting daughters got to work undecorating it, and it landed in my daughter's place, where it became another glorious thing (I'm always quick on the draw for free stuff). I had not (ashamedly) written her a thank you note yet, but I was able to effuse with her in person over the wonderfulness of all that, at which point she told me that she had been at our local grocery store chatting with the checkout person who not only knew my daughter(s) but knew the story of the tree, at which point I said, "Don't you love it?! South Bend so often feels small town." To which she replied, "We're/It's all connected."

So true. I guess that's why I want to write; because that's how I feel that connection the most, in communication with others.

Hope some of you feel the same and will be inclined to comment. But no worries. One of my biggest life lessons so far is: Just because you want feedback doesn't mean you'll get it. :-/

This morning I posted our new mayor's post-swearing-in comments on FB. Well worth reading, I think. Here is his closing sentence:

"At its best, a city is more than a place. It is part of us, and it frames our most important relationships. The way we relate to our city informs the way we relate to each other,and ourselves. To believe in our city is to believe in ourselves. To expect more from our city is to expect more from ourselves. Just like being in the company of someone you love, being in a great city brings out your best self."

I think my city has brought out my best self, thanks to so many factors, but one of the biggest, surely, is that river which runs through it. Must be looking especially splendid this morning, covered in snow.