I am remembering being very young, my cousin Joannie and I playing in the fenced in yard, making gourmet mud pies. We added little orange and red berries which grew on two bushes next to the porch. Joannie's were always much better than mine. They tasted the same, however!!!
Whether or not life would be any different was not even on our minds. But, then one rainy day, four of us, cousins, Donna, Dorothy, Joannie, and myself, were spending time together with Nana LeBaron, in her liviing room. She was watching us play - each doing a different activity, and asked us to share with her what we dreamed of being when we grew up. Dorothy was going to be a secretary, and was busy writing "shorthand" while she spoke. Joannie was going to be a teacher and was reading a book. Donna was going to be an artist, telling us this with her crayons in her hand and showing her picture. I was going to be an actress, dancing and humming a tune while sharing this.
Dorothy has now published two novels I am aware of, one with her daughter. She wrote a family newsletter for a while, and now has a great blog - BloggerOne which you can go to by clicking the link in the right hand column.
Donna, had her own advertising business, but got tired of it. Today, still a CEO, is sewing fleece hats and mittens, doing well in New England.
Joannie,now with her doctorate, was a teacher. Even more, she created a reading program which pioneered diagnosing reading problems holistically. She's written a book on using portfolios to measure student progress, and is a Dean of eduction at a university .
I had a full drama scholarship to Ithaca College, but life had other plans for me.
Two common seeds all four of us shared: practical creativity and service to others - and a grandmother who opened the future for us.
Today, Nana LeBaron's boarding house, her living room where we dreamed of the future that day, and its bushes with little red and orange berries, is now a tarmac paved parking lot for a Baptist Church. Even the mud is gone. The past is gone, gone, gone. There is no family place with a long history, to share visions and dreams. Yet, we are all sustained.
Who and what is your community?
Does its Being contribute to creating dreams for the future?
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2 comments:
Judi:
I remember Grandma's blue rocking chair and her letting us "do her hair" with old fashioned hair pins. Twisting on her piano stool and one day finding a lot of family photos on the bookshelf. One of the albums contained notes on another Dorothy that was a child whom Grandma lost when she was very young.
There is so much we don't know about our family. What a shame.
I see that you are running for the Psychosynthesis Board, and I wish you the best on that. I occasionally read your blog – today’s page is wonderful. Your strengths really POP on the screen, in your ideas, your questions, and the quality of your writing -- and I also LOVE the 4 Seasons Wheel.
I am interested to read that you are an INFP, as I am an ENFJ, although the ‘J’ part is very weak, with a strong ‘P’ back-up. The variety of human experience is endlessly fascinating.
Susan
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