Take Time. Listen and Read.

My summer has been filled with a serene sense of loveliness that was much needed.  The consistent need to go-go-go from last school year was matched by a desire to sit, listen, breathe, and just be this summer.  The two greatest gifts I was given this summer were the time to listen and read.  The last week in Ferguson holds a lot for us to learn.  To listen and read are two of those. Our country is being confronted with a lot, again.  Listen and read, folks.  With social media leading the charge of reporting, there is a race to be the first to speak.  Action is important, but don't forget to take time to listen and read first.

I saw these when I was out for lunch the other day.
Both very timely.

I have three days left of summer vacation.  I felt compelled to fill them with some last minute activity - maybe another trip to NY for the day, try to get some paperwork done that has continuously slipped to the end of the to-do list all summer.  However, this morning I felt more like just letting it wash over me.  I've been reading updates on Ferguson, opinion articles, quotes, looking at photos.  I am reading it all.  Some articles awaken me to new understandings, some frustrate the hell out of me.  How often I forget the power, the freedom, the privilege of just having time and space to listen and read, and to be moved in any way by writing.  It is not the case for many citizens of our world today. I don't have much to offer in terms of new insight.  I feel like there are powerful writers out there who you should find to do that.  My suggestion is to learn more about what is happening.

I realized this morning that I never posted about one of my favorite trips from the summer, one that offered me time to reflect on my own place in the world.  My good friend from LA was on this coast visiting her parents in Blue Hill, Maine.  I drove up for a few days to visit and it gave me a lot of inspiration.  It is amazing, and also to be expected, how much a little time away from your normal surroundings can change you.  I cherished every moment of that trip - meeting my friend's daughter Bianca, smelling blueberries and salt water everywhere, sipping de-caf coffee with her parents at night and just chatting.

Bar Harbor

The kind of peace one
can only get in Maine

Bianca helped me with my summer reading

The beautiful home I got to rest in

While these books don't speak to the current state of our world, they represent the serenity and peace I found while in Maine.  Change happens when we feel called to action and also when we have the time to be aware of the world around us.

 

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

Barbara Cooney captures the beauty of living by the sea in this tribute to living a fulfilled life.  Alice Rumphius learns that to do this, she must travel the world, live by the sea when she grows up, and to make the world more beautiful.  So she brings lupines to her coastal town in Maine.  At the end, just as her grandfather did to her, she passes these three tasks for a good life on to her niece. 

One Morning in Maine and Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Robert McCloskey wrote eight books and four of those books were set in Maine.  This makes sense because although he was originally from Ohio, McCloskey spent many years of his life in Maine.  After spending a long weekend near his home, I can definitely see why.  One Morning in Maine and Blueberries for Sal capture the essence of two very important parts of Maine, the sea and blueberries!  His illustrations should look familiar, they bring these stories to life in the same eloquent way that they did in his well-known book Make Way for Ducklings.

Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry

Ok, I am cheating here.  Yes, there are a slew of other books about Maine that I could add to this list.  Lois Lowry lived in Cambridge, MA for many years.  Anastasia lives in Cambridge in this series of books.  However, Lois recently traded her city life in for a quiet life in Maine and so she now falls into the category of amazing authors who have lived in Maine.  Anastasia is a young girl who isn't afraid to tell it like it is.  I imagine she would be joining in on the protests in our world today.  So, not from Maine, but I am adding it anyway.

Take care my friends, and be grateful for your moments of peace.