New member of Lavender-Mulkey family due to arrive in early September
We’re writing to share some very exciting and possibly surprising news with you. We’re pregnant!
Well, technically just Shonnie is pregnant. And we are expecting our baby to arrive on or around September 5. Shonnie is now through her first trimester, is feeling well and is adjusting to a body that seems to change every few days. Bruce is envisioning how we’ll create a nurturing space in our 
home for our new arrival and calculating his age when our baby is 18 (a very young-at-heart octogenarian).
A little back-story: At the beginning of 2009, we decided to stop using birth control and, doing nothing extraordinary, we’d see if we got pregnant. We weren’t adamant that we must have a child, yet we were open to bringing one into our lives if that’s what was meant to be. Given our ages we figured that the odds might be long on such an occurrence . . . but here we are!
We are full of excitement, joy, and anticipation for what we believe will be an amazing, heart-opening and life-affirming adventure for us, our child, and all those who support us as you do. We’ve created an intention for our journey that we invite you to join us in holding.
Intention
We intend to gratefully and gracefully receive this gift of new life into our lives and our family. We will honor the responsibility we’ve been granted and savor the joy of this pregnancy and the parenting experience. We will nurture this growing life with love, attention, tenderness, strength and joy, creating a healthy, easy, and joyful pregnancy as we wait for baby’s birth. We will open ourselves to growing even more fully into who we were meant to be, and we will support our child to grow fully into he or she is meant to be. We intend to trust Life and nature as well as the wisdom we each carry within. We will also do our best to foster community throughout this process—both to support us on this journey as well as to forge deep connections in this world that will soon be welcoming a new member.
We’ve written more about how baby came to be and will be posting updates from time to time at the Lavender-Mulkey Baby Blog (http://lmbaby.wordpress.com). We hope you’ll want to stay in touch via the blog since it’s the most convenient way for us to communicate with all of our beloved friends and family . . . now and in the months to come.
Thank you for the connection that we share. We send you our love and our gratitude for your presence in our lives.
Shonnie & Bruce
Shonnie Lavender & Bruce Mulkey
828-778-2871 (S)
828-778-5155 (B)
Lavender-Mulkey Baby Blog
P.S. Since we purposefully live a simple lifestyle and endeavor to keep our consumerism in check, we plan to acquire excellent-quality, used baby gear. Thus, if you know of any good resources for this or have baby-related items that you want to sell or give away, please let us know.
P.P.S. You’re welcome to share this news with anyone who might be interested.
Saturday, March 6th, 2010Shonnie & Bruce’s New Year’s letter
Dear friends and relatives,
Well, January 1, 2010 was the anniversary of our 13 years of life together—13 remarkable years filled with blessings we couldn’t have imagined on the first day of 1997. Putting down roots in the eclectic mountain city of Asheville, North Carolina; learning to live simpler, more fulfilling lives; attaining a greater awareness of our connection with you and the other beings on our planet; gaining a deeper understanding of the gifts we’ve been given and how we might share them; and supporting one another to live more authentically, lovingly, playfully and consciously.
As with the other 12 years, 2009 brought us great joy along with some pain.
Celebrating a new president
The year began with a trip to Washington, D.C. in January to participate in the Presidential Inauguration. As a campaign staff member, Bruce received invitations to the inauguration ceremony and two inaugural 
balls. These exciting activities were not without their challenges, but overall we figure we went four for six:
- We had an excellent place to stay in the very convenient Capitol Hill area thanks to our friend Greg Barton.
- We enjoyed a scrumptious dinner and warm hospitality at the home of one of Bruce’s Ohio campaign co-workers, Emma Levine.
- We joined 10,000 other participants in the inspiring Day of Service putting together care packages for our troops overseas.
- Due to a logistic snafu, we missed the swearing in of Barack Obama but got to listen to it on a cell phone.
- We arrived at the ball we were scheduled to attend that evening only to find it overly crowded, so we opted for a quiet dinner at a nearby restaurant.
- We had a great time celebrating with campaign co-workers at the Staff Ball where the President and First Lady came to sincerely thank us for our campaign work.
Connecting with our relatives
Throughout the year we visited and were visited by lots of our relatives. In March we travelled to Florida to spend some time with Shonnie’s dad and step-mom, Bob and Deb Lavender, and Bruce’s brother and sister-in-law, Art and Eve Mulkey. In June we journeyed to Bruce’s hometown of Tullahoma, Tennessee for a party to celebrate the marriage of Larissa, daughter of Bruce’s sister Nancy and her husband Mike Chaney, to Marco Homrighausen. We welcomed Marco to the family and made sure Bruce’s mom Sue had a good time and got to and from the party without a hitch. In late August Shonnie’s stepdad Charles German and his wife Linda visited us in Asheville. And during early September we flew to Colorado for another stay with Shonnie’s dad and step-mom at their lovely new home in Broomfield. Then we visited Bruce’s daughter Lilla Newton, her husband Brandon along with the grandkids Molly and Jack in Colorado Springs.
Gardening galore!
During the spring Shonnie started a community garden in our townhome complex. She enrolled five other families into the process which started with turning a 25’ x 25’ area of grass into 6 individual garden beds and installing three 90-gallon rain barrels. Partial results of the Lavender-Mulkey garden plot included over 100 pounds of cucumbers (most turned into bread and butter pickles), zucchini that became a summer’s worth of zucchini quiches and bread and tomatoes galore. The best part of the garden was how it brought a small group of neighbors into greater community … something we look forward to continuing in 2010.
Sounding the climate crisis alarm
In May Bruce participated in The Climate Project North American Summit in Nashville. The Climate Project is an international non-profit founded by former Vice President Al Gore with a mission to increase public awareness of the climate crisis at a grassroots level worldwide.
A time of sorrow
One note of sadness . . . Our dear 21-year-old kitty Chocolate passed from her earthly form in August, a transition that often seemed more challenging for us than for her. Through an animal communicator Chocolate tells us she’s doing fine and that she thoroughly enjoyed her time with us. She also wants us to go on our trail runs more regularly and for Bruce to finish the book he’s been working on.
Cecil is elected
During the summer and fall we both supported local progressive Cecil Bothwell in his candidacy for the Asheville City Council. Shonnie emceed a lively campaign event at the YMI Cultural Center, and Bruce served as Cecil’s communications guy throughout the campaign. On November 3 Cecil was elected along with several other progressive candidates.
Shonnie completes work on her M.A.
After working arduously for 2.5 years, in mid-December Shonnie completed her coursework for her master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. Shonnie earned a 4.0 for her degree and will accept her diploma in May at Gonzaga in Spokane, Washington.
A Caribbean celebration!
To celebrate Shonnie’s achievement and, belatedly, Bruce’s successful work for Obama in Ohio, we vacationed in Saba, a five-square-mile island in the Netherland Antilles in the Caribbean with a total population of 1500. To get there we flew directly from Charlotte to St. Martin after 
spending the night at the home of Bruce’s nephew Dylan, his wife Kristin and their kids, Riley and Kate. From St. Martin we took the ferry to Saba.
At an elevation of 1500 feet, our simple but comfy cottage at El Momo provided an extraordinary view of the sun sinking into the sea at the end of each day. With high temperatures in the low 80s, we hiked, visited shops in the village, relaxed, read, dined at local eateries, cooked meals of local organic veggies and snorkeled, plus Shonnie went scuba diving several times, sighting numerous turtles, barracuda, and a manta ray, as well as innumerable other amazing sea creatures. In addition, we connected with a number of our fellow guests, the innkeepers and others on the island. It was a glorious trip, and Shonnie got to practice her French during our one day in St. Martin on the way home while Bruce learned to say “Bonjour.”
Entering the new year
Going into the new year, Shonnie continues her work as a life skills coach for Project Access, an innovative and much-emulated program of the Buncombe County Medical Society that provides healthcare for those who can’t afford it. Bruce continues his work as a writer and coach to those who want to write a book. Both of us are serving as facilitators for Building Bridges, a program designed to forge deeper connections between the black and white residents of Asheville. In addition, Bruce takes on the presidency of WNC for Change, an organization that supports progressive causes. In her spare time, Shonnie is thinking of applying to universities at which she may pursue her PhD.
Our intention during 2010 is to be open to what Life presents us—the things we like as well as the things we don’t like—and to all the surprises that are likely to come our way.
We wish each and every one of you a very happy New Year and that 2010 brings you all your heart truly desires!
With gratitude for your presence in our lives,
Shonnie and Bruce
Monday, January 4th, 2010When Brucie met Shonnie
I first laid eyes on Shonnie Lavender in 1995 when we both joined the Austin Fit Green Training Group for the Austin Motorola Marathon. It was August, and as usual, hot as Hades in the capitol city of Texas—highs in the upper 90s to lower 100s. Of course, Austin runners (about ten percent of the city’s population) are accustomed to being thoroughly sweat-soaked through and through by the time they hit the quarter-mile mark.
Between 20 to 30 intermediate-level runners in our group met early each Saturday morning at Town Lake. With the support of our 
coaches, we ran increasingly long distances on the trails around the lake (ultimately up to 20+ miles) in preparation for the marathon that would take place on February 18, 1996. For the record, there were also beginning and elite runners groups that trained on Saturday mornings as well.
After running together week after week for longer and longer distances, the size of our group dwindled to seven runners. Shonnie was the only remaining woman. My first recollection of the single feminine member of our group was of a very attractive, assertive woman of indeterminate age who looked pretty damned good in running tights. Our group’s theory was if we were running too fast to chat, we were running too fast. So after many hours on the trails around Town Lake, we got to know a bit about one another, and I soon learned Shonnie was in a relationship as I was at the time.
Marathon completed!
Shonnie, Jesus, Tim, Tall Bald Larry, Medium Bald Larry, Jack and I all became fast friends over the months of training together and most of us completed the marathon, though a couple of our members each ran a half of the race each due to 
injuries that had slowed their conditioning. Actually I was injured too. A week or so before the marathon I suffered a shin splint after a misstep during a nocturnal run. But I was determined to finish what I’d started, so I took a handful of Advil, put my head down and completed my first marathon in 3:52:21.
Our tight little band of athletes continued running together, though not as regularly or as far. And in addition to our long runs on Saturdays, we began participating in the Tuesday and Thursday afternoon training sessions sponsored by Run-Tex. On Tuesdays speed workouts at the local track, and on Thursdays hill repeats, though in Austin finding a decent hill was not a simple task.
The plot thickens
I spent a good deal of the summer of 1996 in New York City with my girlfriend Carolyn, a time of deep learning about relationships for both of us. And upon my return to Austin in July I had several phone messages from Shonnie inviting me to rejoin our training group in preparation for the 1997 Motorola Marathon. Little did I know at the time she was really inviting me to something else entirely.
In August 1996, after picking up a few new runners, we regrouped and began training again in earnest. And we began to hang out a bit socially as well, usually heading to nearby Magnolia Cafe for pancakes after our long run on Saturday mornings.
I was involved in the Life Training program (a personal growth program later renamed More to Life), and I invited my running buddies to attend an introductory presentation. The interactive presentation was led by Ann McMaster, one of the program’s senior trainers. At one point during the evening, attendees had an opportunity to ask questions, and Shonnie stood up, made a comment and asked a very perceptive question. Though I don’t remember what she asked, I do remember thinking “Hey, this is not just some ditzy blonde.” There was a depth and wisdom that I hadn’t anticipated from a 25-year-old, and my perception of Shonnie shifted significantly in that moment.
Synchronicity strikes
The Green Group all planned to go out for a few beers and some music one Saturday night in early September. But that morning over pancakes after our long run, everyone backed out . . . except me and Shonnie. Whether the Universe 
conspired that day, you’ll have to decide. For, despite the fact there were only two of us, we decided to go forward with our plans. We chose on a small venue that offered music, poetry and cold Shiner Bock. I’d pick her up at 7:00 p.m.
As we were paying the cover, I lightheartedly requested the senior discount (I was 53 at the time.). The woman taking our money said, “Yeah, I see a little gray on you, but I’m not so sure about your daughter there.”
We enjoyed the music and most of the poetry, and as the evening progressed, this excursion became more and more like a date than merely two running buddies out on the town. And it seemed even more so when my hand on Shonnie’s knee was favorably received. I think there was merely a simple “good night” hand squeeze when I dropped Shonnie off at her condo. I don’t really remember. But I do know that my interest had been piqued. And I’d discovered that Shonnie was no longer “involved.”
At Shonnie’s suggestion, we went to a play together the next week—a dramatized version of “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” After the play, Shonnie said she wanted to slow things down, that she was concerned that we might be moving too fast. Somewhat puzzled, I told her that was OK with me.
A few days later Shonnie called. “What are you doing?” she asked amiably.
“Getting ready to have dinner and watch a movie with Pamela (my housemate),” I replied.
“Can I come over?” Shonnie asked.
Pamela knew and liked Shonnie, and we invited her to join us. We three had an enjoyable evening together, and after Shonnie left, I found myself a bit puzzled. I asked Pamela, “What do you think she wants?” “It’s pretty damned clear, big boy; she wants you.” Pamela drolly responded.
Love walks in
Events progressed in no way slowly after that. Seeing which direction this budding romance was heading, I called Carolyn in NYC. I told her of my attraction for Shonnie and asked if she saw any chance of a future for the two of us. Carolyn’s answer was “no.” So we acknowledged one another for how together we’d become more artful in the ways of relationships and for the other undeniable benefits of our time together. At the conclusion of our conversation, we vowed to remain steadfast friends.
Over the next few weeks, it became apparent that Shonnie possessed the most important attributes I wanted in a significant other—she was compassionate, honest, authentic, committed to personal/spiritual growth, physically attractive, athletic, passionate, vegetarian, willing to make 100 percent commitment to our relationship . . . the list goes on. After attending a breath workshop on the University of Texas campus, I told Shonnie I loved her for the first time. “I love you too,” she tenderly replied. We kissed and held each other on that balmy summer afternoon, totally oblivious to anything going on around us. Yes, we were in love!
Subsequently, we began spending a few nights a week together, sometimes at my place, sometimes at hers. Later in the fall of 1996 we decided to fully commit to our relationship and to move in together on January 1, 1997. In the process of doing so, however, we got to deal with some mindtalk, especially about our age difference (approximately 28 years): “Yikes, this will never work; she’s younger than my daughter!” “My parents will never go for this—when I’m 50, he’s going to be 78!” And so on. The vast majority of the chatter between our ears proved to be BS, of course. The truth was that we loved one another, and that was what mattered most.
Committing to a life together
Because we wanted to be intentional about our relationship and living together, we made commitments about how we would be with one another (treat one another with love and respect, tell the truth, practice 
forgiveness, keep our personal space clean, etc.), how we would live together (create a warm and inviting space that works for both of us and reflects who we truly are) and how we’d treat the feline members of our new family—Attabi, Aurora, Kaali and Chocolate (love and protect each of them and treat each as our own).
On January 1, 1997, we read our intentions and commitments aloud to one another, gave the kitties some space to get to know each other, replaced Shonnie’s coffee table with mine, expanded a bit on Shonnie’s usual menu of cereal, salad and baked potatoes and enthusiastically settled in to our life together.
This post was written in honor of Shonnie’s 38th birthday (12/28/09) and the 13th anniversary of our life together.
Wednesday, December 30th, 2009A few random thoughts on a rainy Saturday morning . . .
The victories of Cecil Bothwell and Gordon Smith in last Tuesday’s primary election in Asheville were built on hard and smart work by both candidates, sizeable teams of deeply-committed volunteers and the grassroots organizing skills many of them gained working in Obama’s 2008 campaign. Local citizens now realize the power they possess and are using it to excellent advantage.
Shonnie and I have been in Asheville exactly 12 years, having moved here from Austin, Texas on October 9, 1997. We’re having dinner tonight with Ken and Loyd Kinnett, our only two friends when we first arrived.
Jubilee! Community, our faith community is 20 years old, and the birthday celebration last night was an excellent reflection of the inclusiveness, irreverence, joy and compassion that brings us all together.
It was good to see Jeremy Bird, the number two guy at Organizing for America, on MSNBC last night speaking in support of health care reform. Jeremy was in charge of Obama’s highly-successful field organization during the presidential campaign in Ohio, and I was one of his field organizers.
Shonnie and I have finished our fourth week with Crossfit Asheville. Tough workouts (I almost threw up on Wednesday), but we can both already tell the difference in our bodies and our conditioning.
I was surprised but pleased by the announcement that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. There is no question that he has shifted the U.S. from a stance of confrontation to one of cooperation with the other nations of the world. But more importantly, he personally models and calls on us to act out of our highest values–compassion, connection, generosity, authenticity and integrity among others. I can only hope that this award will provide a greater urgency to get our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan at an early date.
Two of our cats are sharing Chocolate’s former duties now that she’s no longer with us physically. Desmond takes the day shift with me in my office, and Bandit sleeps with me most of the night. A great comfort, but I still miss my old companion of 21 years.
I’m going to join Cecil at the Asheville Humane Society fund raiser and the Blue Ridge Pride gathering later today to talk with voters. Hope the rain holds off!
Saturday, October 10th, 2009My life with Chocolate
Chocolate came bounding into the world in Arlington, Texas in 1988, and from early on, it was obvious that this kitty had a mind of her own, a common trait of all felines, but especially pronounced in this energetic little bundle of fluffy black fur.
My wife Deb and I had adopted Chocolate’s parents, Rocky and Sinjin, at a local pet shop, and before Rocky departed for parts unknown and Sinjin got “fixed,” they had one batch of kittens that included, of course, Chocolate, along with two brothers and a sister. Chocolate immediately became known as a cat who made choices for herself regardless of what the humans desired. When she wanted to be held, she’d crawl into your 
lap; if you put her in your lap, she’d extricate herself as quickly as possible. She was a feisty and spirited little girl, and she groomed herself impeccably.
When Deb and I parted ways in 1991, Chocolate came with me. The two of us were constant companions, and our evening ritual included Chocolate climbing into bed with me, laying on my chest for a while, purring resonantly, head butting my hand or arm to bring my attention to her rather than the book I was reading, then retiring to sleep by my side throughout the night.
Just the two of us in the hills of Austin
When we relocated to a small cottage in the hills outside Austin shortly thereafter, Chocolate began to more fully express her natural feline instincts. She roamed the woods, played in the streams and drank from the nearby lake. She chased squirrels, mice and other rodents, occasionally bringing back her prey as a gift to me. From time to time she’d stay out all night long and once or twice for several days at a time. But she always returned home, and we’d pick up our bedtime ritual where we’d left off. (more…)
Meeting POTUS
Even though I’d been in the presence of Barack Obama three times during my work in the 2008 presidential campaign, I’d never had the opportunity to meet him. So when I got a call last Sunday from Lindsay Siler, the state director of Organizing for America, asking if I’d like to meet the President after his Wednesday town hall in Raleigh, my response in the affirmative was swift. I mean, how do you turn down an offer like that? Well, after you’ve worked your butt off for this guy and you still fundamentally support his agenda and the direction he wants to lead our nation, you don’t.
We managed to round up a ticket for Shonnie to the town hall, and the two of us took off from Asheville for Raleigh on Tuesday night, a four-hour drive that included raging thunderstorms and brilliant displays of lightning. We rolled in to Raleigh and the home of our friends Bob and Kathy Phillips, who we know from our runs and hikes at the Lake Eden Arts Festival each spring and fall. Bob is the executive director of NC Common Cause, so we talked politics for around an hour and got to bed a bit later than intended. Nonetheless, I lay awake for at least an hour, excited about what the next day might bring.
Though the event wasn’t scheduled to begin until 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, I had to be there at 10:00 a.m. and was seated right next to the stage where President Obama would speak and take questions. Shonnie was in the upper bleachers but still had a good view to take lots of photos. I met and chatted with the nine other folks who had been chosen to meet the President as a result of our work during the campaign and afterwards, and we waited eagerly for things to get underway.
President Obama arrived around noon, spoke for 15 minutes or so, then took questions, which he answered astutely and in depth. At the end of the formal part of the event, we were led backstage to await the President. As we stood there, I thought about what I might say to him (“It’s an honor to meet you, Mr. President.” or “I was the oldest field organizer in your campaign, Mr. President. Yes, sir, 66 is the new 65.” or What are you going to do about the Blue Dogs holding up that robust public option?), however, it was a pretty straightforward affair. “Who do we have here?” asked the President as he strode toward us. And we each introduced ourselves and shook his hand. Then he posed for a photo with our small group, bid us farewell and was whisked off to a group of elected officials. I also got an autographed photograph of the President as a lasting memento of this encounter.
It’s possible you might want to know if I’m ever going to wash my hands again. FYI, yes, I am.
Thursday, July 30th, 2009I’m staying in Asheville
After my time working as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in southern Ohio during the months prior to the general election, I still feel a deep and abiding connection with many of the courageous and committed folks with whom I worked there. There is a part of me that would like to heed the call to return and continue the effort we began about this time last summer.
Nonetheless, I have declined an offer to go to work for Al Gore’s Repower America in that region. And I have also removed myself from consideration for a position in Ohio with Organizing for America, the group that continues to grow and sustain the grassroots movement that grew up around Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
While these were challenging decisions, after 12 years Shonnie and I have put down roots in Asheville; this is our home. So I am pursuing employment with both of these worthy organizations here in western North Carolina and am exploring other opportunities as they arise.
My path at this juncture is not clear, but I know this: I am here to be of service and to help create a more compassionate, just and sustainable world. And at age 66, I have a powerful sense that my best years are in front of me.
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009Of synchronicity, new friendships and global warming
Some sages say that there are no accidents, that everything happens for a reason. So I don’t think it was any accident that Chuck Dayton and I teamed up to travel to Al Gore’s Climate Project Summit in Nashville last weekend.
Chuck, a retired environmental lawyer from Minneapolis, spends around half the year in the mountains of North Carolina with his wife Sara Evans. Though we’d never met, we decided to drive to Nashville together and be roommates once we arrived.
The Climate Project Summit
The Summit itself was a deeply rewarding experience. Vice President Gore spoke to us about the challenges of global warming and took us through his updated slide show. The part of his message that has stuck with me most was about how we humans respond to fear. We respond well to immediate dangers—snakes, fire, attack. We also respond promptly to learned dangers, such as the smell of gas in the house. It is more challenging for us to respond appropriately to dangers that come at us incrementally, such as global warming, since the effects of any action we take to combat the climate crisis will only be evident years hence.
Chuck’s 70th birthday came on the second day of the conference, and all 500 participants who’d gathered from around the world sang “Happy Birthday” to him. When VP Gore took the stage immediately afterward, he had a few words to say 
about the occasion: “Happy birthday, Chuck. You know, of course, that 70 is the new 69.”
We were treated to some heavy hitters—R.K. Pachauri, Executive Director of the IPCC, the group that received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with Gore; David Suzuki, award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster; and Maggie Fox, CEO of The Alliance for Climate Protection, among others.
At the beginning of his presentation, Suzuki thanked former President George Bush for stealing the 2000 election and setting Gore free to do the work he was doing. Gore said that Suzuki reminded him of story about Winston Churchill. After losing an election, one of Churchill’s aides stated that “This was a blessing in disguise.” “Damn good disguise,” Churchill retorted.
The American Clean Energy & Security Act recently passed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee was recognized
as a huge step in the right direction. According to Gore: “The bill represents a crucial step forward in addressing the global climate crisis, the need for millions of new green jobs to end the recession, and the national security threats that have long been linked to our growing dependence on foreign oil and other fossil fuels.” Furthermore, it was deemed essential that the U.S. to go to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December showing that we mean business.
Heading back home
During the trip home (five or so hours from Nashville to Western North Carolina), Chuck and I had a chance to talk about a lot more than global warming and found lots of common ground. I learned that Chuck’s family had run an outfitting company at the Boundary Waters Wilderness for decades, that he’d played rugby at Dartmouth, that he’d left a large law firm in the early 1970s to start an environmental law firm, that he’d been deeply involved in helping protect the wilderness of the Boundary Waters, that he and his wife Sara Evans, spent around half the year in North Carolina and half in Minnesota, that the folks who’d been involved in his law firm got together regularly for outdoor adventures (the latest one a sea kayaking trip in the Sea of Cortez at Baja California), and that 11 of these folks were coming down to celebrate his birthday with him, Sara, and his newer North Carolina friends.
Honoring Chuck and his 70 years on this planet
Last night Shonnie and I traveled to Waynesville to join celebrants for a dinner to honor Chuck. We not only had nametags, but on them in a smaller font were the names of two other guests with whom we might want to connect since we likely had something in common with them.
Chuck was honored by a medley of songs from Charles Dayton’s Creative Weirdness Band made up of the Minnesota contingent, whose songs included one to the tune of the Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Big Bad 
Chuck” a la “Big John” and finally a version of “Those Were the Days My Friend.”
These are the days my friend
They just might never end
We’ll sing and dance forever and a day
We’ll watch the stars he’ll sight
At Jasper Lake at night
For we are friends, we’ll always be that way
Next a local fishing buddy recounted some stories about his outings with Chuck. After that Si Kahn, folksinger and grassroots organizer, led all of us in singing “We Honor the Dreamers,” a tribute to Chuck, a “dreamer who works for our dreams.”
Then Chuck took center stage, speaking of his gratitude for those in attendance and the sentiments they’d expressed that evening. “This would be a good memorial service,” he declared. Chuck spoke of his hopes and dreams for the future, indicating that at the age of 70, he wasn’t done yet. In closing, he quoted a portion of Tennyson’s poem “Ulysses.” The final lines:
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Finally, some square dancing to the tunes of the bluegrass band and led by Joe Sam Queen, state senator for Haywood and surrounding counties.
The celebration continues for Chuck, Sara and the friends from Minnesota, including hikes on local mountain trails and other adventures before the guests head northward on Monday.
Right now I’m sitting here feeling deep gratitude for my new friendship with such an honorable, compassionate and courageous man and for the synchronicity that brought us together.
Happy birthday, my friend, and may you celebrate many more!
* * *
Our Creator, throughout the heavens,
Hallowed be your flame.
In a trillion suns your kingdom comes,
In the tiniest cell, your will be done.
Give us each day, a bird in flight,
a flower’s perfume, a bright star’s light.
Lead us not on a path of greed,
Teach us to tread lightly,
taking only what we need.
For ours is a journey from ignorance to understanding
From separation to Oneness with You,
In the glorious energy of the universe.
Amen
