Our Pebble in the Pond

We continue to be amazed and humbled by the contacts we receive from around the globe in response to our story in Elizabeth Lesser's book, Broken Open and from the resulting Oprah show in January. Connie likes to make the analogy of a pebble being tossed into a pond. The ripples emanate outward and their impact is unpredictable, mysterious.

The impact is exponentially amplified by modern technology. When I google "glen and connie" or "broken open connie" links come up to our blog and to the TV show. Crazy... But it is how a young woman in Tunisia found Ryan and expressed her appreciation for the hope she received from his words in Chicago. It's how another young woman in Brazil found us last month and emailed us with grateful words. There are hundreds of such contacts, but after almost a year, we expected them to die out. Perhaps that is why we are amazed when another shows up.

We stopped in to see Cyn, Glenn, Izzy and Ian in New York City on our way down the East Coast. They are very active in their church, the Rutgers Presbeterian, which has a large, unique and very talented congregation. The choir is world class, professional musicians from the New York Metropolitan Opera and theater community. The performer Bono attends the church. It's an historic, active church which does much good work.

Cynthia emailed me a copy of the pastor's Sunday sermon last week. a Dr. David D. Prince. Her message was cryptic... "You're featured..." What could that mean? I read the sermon not knowing what to expect. And then, toward the end of the talk, he began to read from Elizabeth Lesser's book and from my story. He used my words to speak of hope and faith. Mind blowing.

http://www.rutgerschurch.com/Sermons/sermon110809.html

It is absolutely amazing to us how far our families message of hope has spread and continues to spread. We are so grateful. One tiny pebble in the pond...

Down the Road

We left Portland on Halloween and drove into New York City to see Cousin Cynthia and fam. What a wonderful visit! On Sunday we took the subway to Brookline and stood on the street at mile 8 of the NYC Marathon to watch an incredible sea of humanity run by. Runners from every part of the country and the globe. 80 year old men and women in wheelchairs, disabled vets running on prosthetics, blind people with guides. It was overwhelming and inspiring. And for the entire 2 hours Izzy shook her pom-poms, jumped up and down and cheered them all. Such a sweet kid. Ian and his friend high-fived hundreds of runners. Glenn and Cyn danced and cheered. Thanks ever so much family.



On to Baltimore to visit Uncle Dick and Aunt Chris, a special visit to the oldest member of my maternal family. Dick and I visited Keith. We didn't talk much. Just passed the football around the yard. He hugged me tight when we left. Life is such a mystery.

Manassas was only a few hours away and the Lowe's were so welcoming. We are excited for the joining of our families with Ryan and Kristen's marriage.

We headed west to pick up the Shennendoah National Park Skyway and drove some remarkable ridge roads. The foliage was past peak, but magnificient in browns and auburns. Down into the valley for the night in Harrisonburg and on to Asheville to visit our friend Steve. He works at the Biltmore and hooked us up with passes and a very special night viewing of the Christmas lights. Spectacular. We sat around his fireplace, playing guitar, singing, getting to know Kate and Wendy, his roommates.


We hit the road late Friday afternoon and immediately got a text message from our friend Mimi on SSI in GA. "Dawg, where are ya? Get down here..." So we drove to Georgia and spent the night at Jay's. The next day we met up with our realtor friend, Micki, and found a sweet little 2 BR condo only 100 yds from the beach. Connie fell in love with it immediately and we are officially hunkered down for awhile. The address is 1038A Ocean Blvd, Saint Simons Island, GA 31522. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by.

So now some decompression time; reading, writing, resting, catching up with friends, walking the beach. Excited about what comes next. Life is good.