61!

Holy moly! It's my mom's birthday! Highlights of her 61 years include (in no particular order):

• Teaching Jetta how to be the family dog. 
• Playing catch with me from the ages of 5-18!
• Playing countless hours of Go Fish! at the kitchen table and rummy in the later years.
• Teaching me about the best musicians: Neil Diamond, Journey, Air Supply!
• Being in a homecoming skit based on the New Kids on the Block!
• Making whoopie pies for my class, Girl Scouts, birthday parties, etc.
• Being the watcher of all water skiers and tubers in case we fell or let go of the rope while Dad drove.
• The amazing catcher of falling potatoes shot out of the family heirloom potato gun.
• Lover of her neighbors (Frannie, The Parks, The Hartsworns, The Rabbits, The Tills, the list goes on and on)
• Resilient mower of lawns when I was at Camp: our own, Franny's, and Lois'!
• Prompt letter writer, card-sender, thank-you note writer in always consistent handwriting whether I was at camp, sports camp, college, Nigeria!
• Survivor of one big romp of pneumonia!

Love you, Mom!

The view from my 12 speed, 1979 Schwinn Varsity

I've been biking at Busse Woods a lot this summer. It's a 7.7 mile loop plus another 4 miles to and from my apt. As I've become more consistent in my riding so have the types of people I notice using the same path. A quick snapshot of the regulars:

Older guy on a recumbent bike: neon green shirt, messy beard, appears to be sleeping and biking simultaneously.

Mismatched young adult couple: girlfriend is in running shorts and tank top, boyfriend is in khakis, polo shirt, black dress shoes. Neither one is talking. Just staring ahead and walking painfully slow.

Biker gang: 3 very skinny and tan men with skinny butts and huge bulging calves wearing matching shorts and red and black shirts. Their bikes also match. They never make eye contact(shiny sunglasses prevent that) with anyone, they average about 25 mph while dodging the previous mentioned folks, and like to say ON YOUR LEFT with arrogance.

Roller blader: Male: Usually a guy in 3/4 length pants (i call em' capris) a black tank top, and some type of fedora with actual feathers on the side. Female: mid 40's, brown hair, all spandex clothes, usually chewing gum at the pace of her strides.

I'll stop for now. Won't you join me sometime?

List.

So you wanna go camping! Here's a list of the essentials!

Meals:
Hot dogs, buns, onions, buns, ketchup, mustard, chips, smores, apple, beer.
Eggs, butter, garlic, tortillas, beans, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, coffee, half and half, sugar, beer.
Grits, butter, avocado, lime, salt, garlic, pepper, coffee, half and half, sugar, beer.

Stuff:
Hammock. Rope. Sleeping bag. Air mattress. Pump. Pillows. Fitted sheet. Lawn chairs. Stove. Camping fuel. Aim n' flame. Newspapers. Lantern. Cooler.
Pot. 2 skillets. French press. Camera. Water bottles. Fruit in drawer (see birthday edition). Bug Spray. Aloe vera. Swimsuits. Pjs. Shorts. T-shirt. Flips. Flops.
Tent. Screen house tent. Book. Journal. Camping reservation. Beer.

Best Parts: Vacation edition

Walker Brothers' Pancake house with 4 cups of resplendent coffee. DANA!'s mix tape (cd) as the background to Chicago traffic.
Hand made garlic naan with my Mexis.
Bubble tea  at the AHN.
Biking another 13 miles in flip flops.
Celebrating Alicia's life with a lotta ladies.

Best Parts: Random Tuesday

A belated birthday dinner complete with a sombrero and tequila poured down my throat in a very quiet and suburban Mexican restaurant.
My Mexis. Always quick-witted with middle fingers flying.
Biking Busse woods unplanned and in flip-flops, all 13 miles there and back with my best friend.
Being handy with tools and a cumbersome fridge that fell on me, slightly.

Best Parts: THE BIRTHDAY EDITION!

It's my 32nd birthday!

I went camping to celebrate!

We forgot all sorts of things: A Sleeping Bag, A Saucepan, The fruit in the fridge.

Thankfully, we ate a giant cookie at each meal!

Best Parts: Birthday Eve

Best Parts:

A super quiet office. Writing queries as a spiritual practice! The perfect avocado for lunch. An on-time birthday card from Aunt Linda.

Best Parts: Mid-week

Best parts:
Strong new tires! Picnic table lunches. A deep sleep on an empty couch. Getting back into the swing of things.

Best Parts.

Cleaning cleaning! A day off. A tiny apartment full of SURBER'S! Mom's snickerdoodles. Eli's retrieving ability. A hearty night of sleep on the couch!

Weekend Edition: Best Parts

Kayaking the rough waves of Lake Michigan. Shedding sadness and questions for a long paddle and an oversized life jacket.  Sleeping in my own bed. Eli snoring. South Indian food for dinner with my Crystal.

Best Parts

A day off. Even if it meant running errands and plugging my ears with my fingers while a toddle had a fit at the dealership. A big hug right when I got home. Driving through Michigan. Dana's mix tape (cd). Mexitexts to check on me. Living out a lamentation with honesty.

(No titled added. Please do a better job with that, please.)

Best Parts!

Footwashing at sunset with a dried out wheat field in the background.
DANA! knowing that my best part was a fake-out best part.
Watching people swimming in groups in a muddy lake.
Witnessing vols trying to hide from me as I came down to hang out on their 3rd floor.

Best Parts

Best Parts:

Ice cream at Baugher's after a day of interviews.
One of my favorite session leaders spending a few days with the group.
Jazzercising to Ken Medema's music with volunteers.
Singing the boring alto line in every boring hymn in a semi-boring congregation.
Calling Dad up for Father's Day. "Your Mom and I sure tried our best. We tried to make the best decisions that we could."

I led a chapel.

I did a little chapel this week. Wished you, dear reader, could have been there.

Welcome to Chapel: Please stand with me as I offer a prayer from the words of Sister Helen Prejean:

A Prayer to Abolish the Death Penalty

by Helen Prejean, CSJ

God of Compassion,
You let your rain fall on the just and the unjust.
Expand and deepen our hearts
so that we may love as You love
even those among us
who have caused the greatest pain by taking life.
For there is in our land a great cry for vengeance
as we fill up death rows and kill the killers
in the name of justice, in the name of peace.

Jesus, our brother,
you suffered execution at the hands of the state
but you did not let hatred overcome you.
Help us to reach out to victims of violence
so that our enduring love may help them heal.

Holy Spirit of God,
You strengthen us in the struggle for justice.
Help us to work tirelessly
for the abolition of state-sanctioned death
and to renew our society in its very heart
so that violence will be no more.
Amen.

Please remain standing and sing hymn #493 I heard the voice of Jesus Say

 The scripture I’ve chosen today has kind of set the course for a lot of interactions, ideas, and changes in plans I’ve rarely expected:

Matthew 25:

^31-33"When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

 ^34-36"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:

   I was hungry and you fed me,
   I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
   I was homeless and you gave me a room,
   I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
   I was sick and you stopped to visit,
   I was in prison and you came to me.'

 ^37-40"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'

 ^41-43"Then he will turn to the 'goats,' the ones on his left, and say, 'Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

   I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
   I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
   I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
   I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
   Sick and in prison, and you never visited.'

 ⁴⁴"Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'

 ⁴⁵"He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.'

 ⁴⁶"Then those 'goats' will be herded to their eternal doom, but the 'sheep' to their eternal reward."

As I’ve read this scripture at different times in my life, I’ve always been led to do something. The different cases of need: hunger, thirst, homelessness, clothed, and imprisonment have all kind of reached me at different points. In the past I’ve really been taken with the shivering part of the text and I’ve passed out old blankets from the trunk of my car when I lived in Phoenix. Sometimes I’d have a conversation with someone on the street and run back, grab a blanket and hand it over. Sometimes I’d see a person slumped over in the cold night air, and I’d quickly hop out and throw it on the person and dash back in the car.

But lately I’ve been drawn to the whole imprisonment thing. On several of the orientations, we invited SueZann Bosler, to come and tell her story of violence and forgiveness. That struck a chord with me and it added a layer of intentionality that hasn’t been present for me before. The quick version of SueZann’s story is that a person entered their house and fatally stabbed her father, the Brethren pastor, Rev. Bill Bosler. The person also stabbed SueZann repeatedly in the head. She laid silently near to him and pretended to be dead so the intruder would leave. SueZann lived through the attack and throughout the years through a trial and another sentencing re-trial, has asked the courts to sentence him (James Bernard Campbell) to life in prison, instead of a sentence of death. What’s really remarkable about SueZann’s story is that she ultimately forgave James Campell and became a fierce advocate for states and other countries to abolish the death penalty. One of her frequent statements that pokes fun at the absurdity of it all says, Why does the government kill people to show killing people is wrong?

As my friendship with SueZann grew and a few years passed, I realized that I could live up to the words in Matthew 25 in a new way. I got in touch with Rachel Gross who works as the main person for the Death Row Support Project. She and I were in conversation about the faithfulness needed to be a penpal. It’s quite a commitment to write to someone on death row. The odds are great that a person in prison could potentially outlive you, the writer. So in April of 2009 I got my first letter from XX, a 33 year old man, sentenced to death in Illinois for a brutal double murder that he confessed to (also confessed to me during a visit in 2010).

We began exchanging one letter per month. XX is much better at being consistent with sending his letters. Sometime we write each other at the same time and our letters “pass each other” on the way to their destinations. Sometimes we won’t write each other for a spell and then we’ll pick back up.

Quick summary: Met in person. Several times. Sometimes with card games. Sometimes behind glass due to clerical errors. 3^rd visit was his re-telling of his crimes. Through it all it’s been very interesting. Some letters he’s completely coherent and other times he’s an entirely different person. 

“Combatants and slaves. Really sooth when creating pariahic artifacts. That’s nomenclature for a sort of esoterical mandala.”

And there’s something else that’s a bit nonsensical about XX that I learned early on, He’s a fan of The Office. I quote, “Dwight is a trip. He can’t help but fall prey to Jim’s antics. Jim and Pam do have a nice storyline. They all work together nicely, filling out their own niches.”

As Illinois and Gov. Quinn abolished the death penalty in Illinois earlier this year, our relationship changed. XX was relocated to a prison in Dixon, Illinois. Strangely, it’s about the same distance as his first prison in Pontiac, Illinois. And through this very quick, unannounced and clandestine move, XX has been through a readjustment phase. His letters are quite incoherent now and he isn’t writing much. I can only surmise that he’s dealing with the new idea that he has his entire life to live in prison and that the death penalty isn’t looming over him as in years past.

What I want you to think about today is the possibility of establishing a relationship (whether in person or by pen and paper) with someone in prison. What is really stopping you from this? I believe that most of the Bible because pretty figurative. In this Matthew 25 passage Jesus really calls us to act. Not to debate. Not to let someone else better suited to do this. But to do something. Let’s get it started…..

Hymn #323 I see a new world coming

May I close with the words that were sent to me in a letter from May 18, 2011

“Shall you realize peace in the midst of calamity.”


Can you commit to a penpal for a year or longer? Check this out and let's get it started:
http://support.brethren.org/site/Survey?SURVEY_ID=3541&ACTION_REQUIRED=URI_ACTION_USER_REQUESTS

Elliot was dreamy

Yesterday, I was riding my old blue bike. At 6pm (Rapture Time!) I was really wanting to be lifted up on my bike just like Elliot in E.T. did. Alas, I'm typing about it now so I didn't get the chance to ride my bike up above the forest.

Landscape Edition

Let's have a look at more vacation photos! Edition: Landscapes!

               

This is my favorite: The door that opened directly onto the beach at El Tunco!

Comida!

After the retreat in Honduras, 6 days were spent in El Salvador. Let's take a look, shall we?

                                                                 The Food Edition!



Question

Wouldn't you love to peruse my vacation photos?

Birds!

Things have been busy lately. I haven't written a thing since January. Here are some birds to tie you over. I visited them in Copan Ruinas, Honduras!

A time to brag, a time to feel jealous.

Dear Reader,
Did you know that I am in Florida? Please let me brag. It's so warm here, I didn't wear a jacket yesterday. At lunch, I had to take my sweatshirt off to cool down. I have a porchswing. It faces east and when you sit just right you can't see the huge, ugly Baptist cross across the lake. I'm wearing flipflops today. I get to live the Florida life for 19 more days.

Best. Yours. Sincerely. Love.
Callie

PS. Wow. My blog has gotten ugly. Can someone design something nice for me.Shabbyblogs designy stuff is sorta shabby and old.

Why my bloggie is called what it's called.

Prompt: New name. Let's meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?


Well hello there! I'm Ledonia, short for Caledonia. Yes, Callie is my official name. It's not short for Callie, Caledonia, California, Calliope, or even Cal. Even Callie isn't just my name. It's also my grandmother's. We had a lot of similiarities besides our names. Mostly, it was our love of pickle juice, raw hot dogs, and marshmallows. My uncles have been calling me Caledonia since I was little. My uncle Bill (one of the few not named Uncle Jim) has great pet names for most family members and I love how they're accurate and portray the person in a great light. (Stink, Wink, Ang, Surbino, Mrs. Surbinowitz, etc.)


I sorta treasure my nickname, and I especially love it when he calls me up and says CalllleeeeDONia! I think I even saved some voicemails for a few years back with him saying my name all long and drawn out. Sometimes if Uncle Bill is in a hurry he'll just say LeDone'. So here's the song that I think must have started it all!


Caldonia by Louis Jordan
Walkin' with my baby she's got great big feet
She's long, lean, and lanky and ain't had nothing to eat
She's my baby and I love her just the same
Crazy 'bout that woman cause Caledonia is her name

Caledonia, Caledonia
What makes your big head so hard?

I love her. I love her just the same
Crazy 'bout that woman cause Caledonia is her name

You know what mama told me? Mama said son...
Keep away from that woman - she's gonna take all your money
Hey, hey, hey boy.... Don't laugh about my mama - you hear that?
Hey man I told you man....
You don't know what you doin' boy - don't laugh about my mama

Caledonia, Caledonia
What makes your big head so hard?

I love her. I love her just the same
Crazy 'bout that woman cause Caledonia is her name.

Ow!

Tonight I fell down all of my front steps in the snow. I was heading out to my car to clean the snow off and  I  took one step and WHOOOSH BUMP BUMP BUMP BUMP THUD! I think this is my first real fall in my adult life. I'm sure it was quite a sight to see this heap in an ugly green winter jacket lying on the sidewalk wondering what had just happened. So tonight I'm icing a couple bruises and bumps and plotting to burn my shitty boots when the weather thaws!

Nothing for you.

There will be no blog tonight. I knocked over my gorgeous amarylis and it broke in half. I'm too sad to type anything tonight.

Goodbye, Comcast!

I've officially become a minority in the US. I've cancelled cable (gasp!), more specifically COMCAST. I'm also not planning on watching it anytime soon (please don't count the times I gaze up at the 300lb one about my head at treadmill #7 in my gym). Since I've just saved myself $468 for the next twelve months, I'm pretty darn happy (please insert a mental image of me doing a lil' jig)! And yes I did have shows that I  loved to watch, but I quickly realized that once I stopped watching them, I didn't really miss the plotlines, the commercials, and the sinking suspicions that I was wasting my time night after night and weekend after weekend. What do you think? Should you turn your tv off too? What's stopping you? Would it be too quiet in your home? Would you miss out on polarizing viewpoints on cable 'news'?  Would you feel at a loss to lose the stats and storyline of your sports teams? Would sports even matter if you didn't watch them on tv?

Measuring a year in 5 minutes

Prompt: 5 minutes. Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.

Wow. Five minutes to type and re-cap a year. Hmmm. Driving through all the ice, slush, rain and snow to and from winter orientation. Seeing cars careening into the ditch after speeding on icy bridges in Alabama (and somehow knowing that the orientation van always gets us there in one piece). Being incredibly sick at the re-entry retreat but sticking to the group and weekend because it's all good people and good stories are to be heard and re-told. Sitting in little shaded huts on the Yucutan peninsula  with 3 friends and a good book (and also a good drink from our waiter). Meeting the love of my life in my little neighborhood Thai restaurant and her not giving up on me when i casually said, "Yeah, maybe we can go out again." And then having her confront me on the meaning of those words 2 hours into a walk in the woods. Realizing that our relationship is really wholesome, positive and never typical. Seeing a bunch of aboki and hearing/understanding Hausa in the middle of nitty-gritty (but really kinda shiny and neat) Pittsburgh. Kayaking down the Shenandoah river with a rag-tag bunch of volunteers who would never be grouped together in this way, except at orientation. Camping in Wisconsin with friends who had mosquito bite welts bigger than a quarter. Swimming in a dirty brown lake to retreat from the aforementioned skeeters. Living through a sweat lodge even though I was dizzy and out of it. Being hugged by really sweaty volunteers after the sweat lodge and feeling like a part of them, not just a staff person who shouts announcements and waits patiently for them in grocery stores. Eating a fancy lunch with my mom way up in the John Hancock building and having good conversations the entire time she stayed with me. Seeing my nephews grow and change and add about 10,000 words to their vocabularies since I saw them last year.  Being in my dad's workshop and admiring all the tools, nuts & bolts, car parts, motorcycle bits, the wood-stove, the nice barstool with orange flames painted on the seat, and all the knick knacks that make his garage cocoon-like and welcoming in any season.