Happy Birthday to Ol' Pals..Wonderful Guys and Gals...a little reverie as the snow falls on Feb 7th a week before Valentine's Day 2018

Who else wakes up feeling like they are still in dream mode? Am I waking up in 8th grade to get to my  beloved Kellogg School a mile down the road in one of the tiniest towns in CT and the only "Falls Village" in the United States of A-Miracle (May that be more so than not, Dear Loving Source of the Universe as we all pitch in and do out bit best we can with balance and elbow grease, kind words and deeds indeed!)

When I had to write my 8th grade essay for graduation in June of 1977 (yes 40 years ago but again, can feel like just a few years back) I woke up in the middle of the night, I think right at midnight with an idea I didn't want to forget. I grabbed my pen and paper and poured out a plethora of urgent messages.."The Future Is NOW!" That's before I ever heard of the National Organization for Women but that is more timely Now than ever. Meanwhile my heart was a pounded out meaningful warnings that we need to pull together hard and fast to make our world last.

Save natural resources, quit burning up oil like it was paper, forget those gas guzzling cars and long trips, find ways to live together and share housing costs. Mind you I was one of a dozen kids living in a brick house that was heated in a clever homemade way. My Dad who was a mason and jack of all trades (or knew someone cheap to trade with to get the basics done like digging ditches or welding metal parts on a tractor or vehicle, even learning how to read blue prints so he could be the head of putting the pool in at Hotchkiss School (the old one, not the new huge one).

He had the know how about handling huge support pillars that needed to be placed around the perimeter to give the needed support for the water to be contained safely.  While the fellows in charge were finding them hard to maneuver with the pillars toppling now and then, he offered that a pulley could be set up to simply line them up and slide them down in as smoothly as possible.

When he gave that sage advice he was offered the lead job. With only an 8th grade education and life and Coast Guard experience along with his masonry, he hadn't picked up the blue print reading skills. But he had done work for someone who knew, and that fellow's daughter was in my class. Her mom was the Girl Scout leader so I felt our famiiles were kin. That was the way many families pulled together whether as neighbors, school chums, rescue volunteers or church or other connected folks. We were in small towns and needed each other like people need the internet and cell phones today.

My friend's Dad and my Dad were doing their homework one long evening pouring over the basics of how to read a blue print. My Dad got the idea of how each side was displayed on one page. That's what I recall...More on this later, but overall, that sense of urgency being met with friendship and people pulling through for one another carried us along many an adventure and got us to Now, 2018.

Another good friend's birthday is today..and like the rest of us 8th graders is turning double nickels (55) as my older sister coined the term for me when she reached that mark not long ago. My other best bud from early school years had a birth date of February 4th, 1963. She's been in heaven since shortly after my teen son Kaelan Alexander Palmer Paton crossed over in June of 2009. These kinds of echoes of the days from over the years contribute to everything from the past feeling wrapped up with the present, the new now. Sending love out then to my circles of friends and family and hopes that you feel included in that arena.

The ripples work that way for each of us as we tune into them. The peers, the siblings, the parents and teachers, neighbors and townsfolk from each of our homes over our lifetimes are all in our hearts and minds. An ocean of love is not an exaggeration when we appreciate how wonderfully integrated our lives and experiences are. and if we can evolve with love there's more good stuff in store for US-All in the world and maybe beyond not only the here and now but our home planet Mother Earth, Pacha Mama, Blue Marble and Planet Heart Love!