Wrentham, Massachusetts, Nashua, New Hampshire and The Cape of Cod

Even though the luggage had arrived, Katherina and Mia were itching to do some shopping and since the Merrimack Outlets didn’t open for another week, we needed to head down to the Wrentham Outlets in order to meet all of their shopping needs.  “Buy more save more…”  echoed from the trees surrounding the complex that bragged 170 stores (http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=10), and after getting them settled into their schedule for the day, I vowed to return later that night.   

I, in the mean time would drive to Nashua, New Hampshire where there was a going away party for my former principal, Chuck Healey.  Chuck and I worked together for 7 years back in the 90’s when my dreams and our ministry were young, and I tried to stay in touch with my Fairgrounds friends through the years.  Chuck had accepted a job as principal in Worcester, MA and as I made my way back to Nashua all of the experiences that we shared over the 7 years came flooding back.  All of the students we served and teachers we collaborated with… my head thumped to remember them all.  We dealt with so much on a daily basis there.  When I think back on that time, sometimes we experienced the nightmarish realities of some of the darkest parts of people’s lives, but we worked hard through the night to bring our students a better day. 

At the reception, Chuck spoke sincerely about his dream that our school would be a community center.  Putting a laundry facility at the school would have pulled the families more into the school and helped them to invest in their children’s educational experiences.  The Laundry Mat never happened, but apparently a food pantry did.  The faculty and staff presented Chuck with a new sign to the food pantry that read, “The Chuck Healey Food Pantry.”  Once we can help students and their families meet their basic needs, then they can dream another dream.  The Chuck Healey Food Pantry will help our FES students to dream their dreams, one bag of groceries at a time.

When I returned to the Outlets, Mia and Katherina were still going strong.  Although they didn’t achieve their goal of making it to each store, their tired and happy arms carried all of the packages to our awaiting van.  This day was not done though.  Now, we would drive to New Seabury  (http://www.newseabury.com/) in Mashpee, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.  Sweet dreams…

Boston, Massachusetts

The Innkeeper in Woburn was named Mary Ellen, and she was a dream shaper from the start.  Even upon check in, she eagerly solicited the dreams we had for our stay.  Clearly, her job is to make sure that our stay was everything we had dreamed it would be, but she became our partner in planning, and she knew Boston.  After a few phone calls, we were not only booked on our tour of Boston that would last an entire day and encompass at least a dozen of Boston’s historical sites, but we would actually drop off the tour at the end and spend the evening in Boston.  At the end of the night, we would call Mary Ellen’s friend Yessur to come and get us and drive us home.  What more could we ask for?  Absolutely nothing, well except their luggage, and just as we were walking out of the hotel to wait for our Boston Bus Tour, in walked Katherina and Mia’s luggage with one of Boston’s finest…taxi drivers.  Amen!

Here was our tour (from the brochure):

*”Visit the Charlestown Navy Yard where Old Ironsides (USS CONSTITUTION) and the WWII DESTROYER USS Cassin Young are berthed (http://www.history.navy.mil/ussconstitution)

*Bunker Hill Monument (www.nps.gov/bost/historyculture/bhm.htm)

*Old North Church (www.oldnorth.com) and Copps Hill Burial Ground (www.thefreedomtrail.org/visitor/copp-hill.html)

*Visit Faneuil Hall and Quincy Marketplace (http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com)

*Paul Revere’s House near the Boston Massacre Site and the Old State House (http://www.paulreverehouse.org/trail/..%5Cindex.html)

*King’s Chapel (http://www.kings-chapel.org)

*State House (http://www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/massachusettshouse.asp)

*Passed by the “Cheers” bar (http://www.cheersboston.com)

*Harvard University (www.harvard.edu)

*Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s House (http://www.longfellowfriends.org/index.php)

Boston had so much to take in, but when the time was right, we jumped off the bus and plunged ourselves into the City.  After a little shopping on Newbury Street, we were ready for some dinner at Papa Razzi (www.paparazzitrattoria.com).  I was exhausted but my heightened senses enjoyed every morsel of food and thread of our conversation.   It was like a dream I had, but even better.  Then came Yesser…

Yesser picked us up right on time, and on our journey back to the hotel he narrated to us about his migration to America from Turkey.  His sweet and humble voice was musical as he unfolded his heart and shared the dreams for his future.  Woburn is only 8 miles from Boston, but it seemed like longer as he spoke.  When we arrived back at the hotel, saying goodbye hurt.  Yesser felt like family now.  The odyssey home took us into someone else’s dreams through the open and genuine sharing of his heart. 

First stop, Airports, places for dreams and Boston, Massachusetts…

In many ways, Boston is the perfect place to start our Dreams Tour.  Boston is a city made of Dreams.  My Boston Tour information brochure says that on their tour, we would (and we certainly did) “relive centuries of history and learn of the Puritans, revolutionaries, immigrants, presidents, Pequots and politicians”.  Lots of dreamers in that mix, and we would be no exception!  But I get ahead of myself…

After Synod Assembly and the Relay for Life, my first big summer dreamscape consisted of meeting and greeting my Cousin Katherina and her friend (and my soon to be adopted cousin) Mia who were journeying to the United States from Sweden.   Their dream was to spend some quality time with my Uncle Beau, Katherina’s Dad, see some sites and have fun!  They knew that their luggage would be missing, and it was.  And even with that, fun we had.  It all started at the airport.  

Airports are places where dreamlike reunions and homecomings take place.  They are supposed to anyway.  I think that is why I have always loved them.  Sometimes when I was growing up, we would get to choose where we would like to go out to eat on our birthdays.  Oftentimes, I would choose the Burlington International Airport (www.burlingtonintlairport.com).  How exciting it was that people were flying in from all over the world to make their dreams of family or fortunes come true!  On Sunday, June 10, 2012, I met Katherina and Mia at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts with two bouquets of flowers and some Dunkin Donuts.  Dreams are sweet after all.  After a crazy day of crisscrossed flights around Scandanavia, Katherina and Mia were ready for some food and soft beds.   

.....Sweet dreams came to us all at the Comfort Inn in Woburn!  (http://www.comfortinn.com/hotel-woburn-massachusetts-MA110)

I had a dream…

This summer has been like a dream.  When I look back at all of the things that I have done and all of the places I have gone, it feels a little unreal.  As I drive cross country, Vermont fades to the foggy background and Nebraska eases into my view.  I live two lives and sometimes my quirky existence feels like that place between being asleep and being awake, although I am never really sure what place is which.  Dreams…

It seems like every summer that I blog, I start later and later.  I guess I am so busy experiencing my summer that I am not ready to sit down and actually process it.  I trust it will always make sense in the end.  Not only does my blog allow my students to take virtual field trips with me each summer as I zigzag my way across country, it allows me to reflect on the gifts, dreams and miracles God provides for me on a daily basis… Maybe this summer, I will give you a guided field trip to my inner brain and the dreams that lurk there.  (Here's a picture of my brain on dreams from brainharmonycenter.com.)  Terrifying, I know!  Anyway, I do believe that this blog helps me to tune out all of the noisy distractions in my day and discern my call through the themes in my life.

One theme that has come back to me over and over again this year has to do with dreams… As we have discussed so many times in class, a theme is NOT a word or topic.  A theme is …what?  That’s right- In  literature a theme is a sentence that summarizes what the protagonist learns as a result of experiencing the plot.  So what have I learned about dreams throughout the plot of events from this summer?   Dreams empower us to achieve?  Dreams are a catalyst for inspiration?  As the landscape of our lives changes, so do our dreams?  Maybe it is too soon to tell…

We have lived in a lot of miraculous places in our life as a family.  Each place has honed our dreams and influenced our call.  And each time, God has called us out to deeper water.  Unlike the Sirens from ancient mythology who sought to lure sailors toward their destruction upon the rocks, God calls us to set out for deep water with Faith as our only compass and the sound of our dreams to guide us away from danger.  All aboard?  Anyone?  Anyone?

Summer of 2012

Cousin Camp

                I have this recurring dream… It is summertime at the pond, and my cousins and I are all little kids again.  The sun never sets and the rain never comes and the pond is always as warm as bath water.   A gentle breeze starts at the east end of the pond and little ripples break waves onto the shore.   Goosebumps rise on our skin, and it is warmer to be in the water than out on the dock.

                Somehow, I have decided, we were swindled out of this time when we were little, and so I have spent the past two summers constructing elaborate do-overs for two of my very special cousins.  Last summer when my extraordinary Cousin Asa and his beautiful family came to Vermont from their native Australia, it was the first time he had journeyed to the Green Mountains where our Dads, twin brothers, had been raised, and where my Dad always remained.  When we arrived at the pond, I assured him that we would spent our weeks together doing all of the things that cousins who have the opportunity to grow up together get a chance to do and maybe take for granted:  sleepovers, Simon says, hop scotch, cribbage tournaments… Honestly, I think he was scared at first, but over the course of our weeks together, we really did make up for lost time.  I felt like our bountiful meals and awesome adventures would never end.  Camp was the scenic setting, and we were the protagonists… this time we got to choose.  Love conquers all was our theme.  It conquered time, space and distance of every kind.  

                This summer my remarkable Cousin Katherina and her friend Mia came from Sweden to stay.  Even though Katherina lived in Vermont until she was five years old, has been back several times and we have visited her in Sweden as well, there is never enough time to make up for all of the lost moments.  Family history is eked out between some potato salad and the pie, and our laughter forged new bonds for the future generations.  Now that our children are grown and living in distant places all over the world, the pond harkens us back and offers a healing balm to the past that splintered us all from one another.  When I was little and suffered horribly with my eczema, inflamed skin from head to toe, I believed that the water from the Pond had healing and miraculous properties;  now, as I watch family come from around the country and around the world and be restored,  I know that it is true. 

                I have this recurring dream.  It is a camp where cousins, friends who are more like family and family alike can come…   No matter where we are in the world and what we have going on in our lives, we will all have a place to come and call our own.

                                                                              ...I know that it is just a dream, but I like it. 

Miles Pond- Skunked ...Again!

Sensational Success!

Smelly Suckers!

The call was not good news, so I was glad that I was alone. Well, I was sort of alone. My little cousin Sweeney Lucas was asleep like an angel in the back of the van, as I sat parked outside of the Jersey Shore Premium Outlet Mall (www.premiumoutlets.com/jerseyshore/) in Tinton Falls, New Jersey. We were on our way to the Blue Claws Game, but we made enough time to do some power shopping: Pop guns, And bicycles, Roller skates, Drums, Checkerboards, Tricycles, Popcorn, And plums (Seuss)! Whoops! Wrong story... Anyway, back to the phone call. My Mom phoned me up and said, "Pamela, I have some bad news." After the initial PAMic wore off, I heard her telling me that she had gone out to our cabin to make sure everything was ready for the big visit, and the cabin had been sprayed by a skunk. She ended by saying that, barring a miracle, there was no way the cousins could stay at the cabin. They would have to stay next door at my brother and sister-in-law's, with their permission. I was devastated.

Over the next two months, a new obsession would consume me (and my saintly, Mum)... skunk odor elimination! It was amazing to me that, in my 46 years, I have heard of many dogs who were sprayed by skunks and had to be treated. As a matter of fact, if any of our dogs had been sprayed by a skunk, I feel quite confident in saying, that I would have known what to do: tomato juice or beer, lemon juice with a twist of Febreze. It's old news right, people? Right. But for a skunk to spray a house, that's rare!

Let me share a little of what I have learned. When I arrived on the scene and assessed the situation, it was worse than I thought. Apparently the little "buggas" burrowed under the boys' bedroom and let it fly. Now, that's just mean. What had they ever done? First I had to dress for the job. Because my Mum was afraid that said skunk, or heaven forbid, skunks might still be in the hole, she made me dress for the job. Gosh, I wish I could find the pictures, but they seem to have been accidentally erased from my memory card. Suffice it to say that the outfit included several layers of over-sized clothing, a towel wrapped around my head and around the front of my face, winter mittens, hiking boots and all topped off with a lovely rain poncho. The whole ensemble really had a burqa effect. If the skunk wasn't afraid the first time he sprayed, I was sure, he would be now when he got a look at me. Well, scared or laughing really, really hard.

All of this to verify that the skunk had filed his change of address. He was gone, out of there! When I peered deeply into the now tunnel that ran underneath the front of the house, there were no beady eyes looking back at me. So began my repertoire of remedies: lots of different air fresheners and deodorizers, cotton balls dipped in ammonia and propelled into the tunnel, moth balls, praying, charcoal, begging, fox urine (don't ask) and finally, Beyond Green Beyond Clean! My friend Ron told me about the all natural product and after a full fogging of the house, we had finally defeated one of mother nature's most powerful odors. I only wish I had tried it a month earlier. I think I would have saved a lot of time, money and outfits!

Why do I have this nagging feeling though that they might have the last laugh?

Father's Day- From Burlington to Boston and Back Again...

Remembering our Dads, twin brothers

Visiting a scary chapter in American History

Pascal's last ride in America on America!

Our last night in Boston

I guess Shakespeare had Juliet say that "parting is such sweet sorrow" to characterize the paradoxical emotions that battle while saying goodbye to loved ones. I am sure that after a month of preparing and journeying, Asa, Mandy and their beautiful family were ready to say goodbye. They had lives to get back to for crying outloud! At the same time, while they were here, we had so many greetings and partings. Every day on our adventure we would meet different friends or family members, and then we would depart the next day to arrive at our next destination.

Leaving camp was hard. It was a beautiful morning when we left as Asa and Pascal went fishing one last time. We drove to Burlington (http://www.ci.burlington.vt.us/) for one more family reunion, a quick trip to the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center (http://www.echovermont.org/) and then a fabulously luxuriously long, Father's Day stop at Ben and Jerry's (http://www.benjerry.com/) in Waterbury. Finally we would drive south for our last three days in Boston. Excitement and adventure seemed to follow us no matter where we went. In addition to a few upset stomachs along the way, we were evacuated from the Aquarium under, how shall I say, suspicious circumstances. At first Asa, using his hyper-observant skills, witnessed a commotion by the fish tank. Perhaps a leak was to blame for sending us out in the steamy Vermont Summer heat? After witnessing Burlington's Finest and Finest Firefighters assess the situation, we were returned to the building and just in time for the Turtle Show. We took a quick trip up the elevator (which had a mysterious burnt rubber smell). The Turtle Show was fantastic even though our presenter confessed that it was her first program on Turtles. (I think that she said that she usually did programs on frogs or sharks or something.) She and Pascal were able to compare notes on our Miles Pond turtles and the turtles from across the State of Vermont and we all learned a lot. No wonder we needed Ben and Jerry's!

We arrived in Boston in the blink of an eye, and it was the most spectacular night I have ever seen. The sun was setting on the skyline as we raced to the Duck Boat Tour Kiosk just to find out that they had canceled their last tour for the night. SHUCKS! We made our way around the side streets until we found a parking space. The streets with alive with people and wagons, but at the same time it was sort of deserted. Do you know what I mean? Food and these big long trailers were everywhere. There was a warm and wonderful member of Boston's Finest- a Policeman standing in front of a sawhorse that was blocking off a side street parking area. Could they be following me?

"What's going on?" I asked the nice officer in my nonchalant "but I know something is going on here" voice. "It almost sort of kinda looks like a movie set around here.?-!" I offered.

"Yeah. That's what I hear. I think someone said it is the new Adam Sandler movie. Don't quote me on that!" Over the next three days we would explore and comb this City from the suburbs in Hooksett, New Hampshire (thank you to our incredibly gracious hosts the Martins Family) to the wharf by the Boston Aquarium to Quincy Market (http://www.faneuilhallmarketplace.com/) to the Shops on Newbury Street (loved scarfing the scone and cappuccino at the sidewalk cafe) to the witch museum (Boo!) in Salem, but we never saw Mr. Adam Sandler or any of the cast. We never got a chance to say hello or goodbye to Mr. Sandler on this Father's Day or any of our days in Boston, but doing a little research here on the computer, it looks like the film is entitled, I Hate You, Dad. Say what? How ironic that it was the incredible love I feel for my Dad and his twin brother, my Uncle Russ that brought us all together for this trip. I thought about this as I hypnotically (and tearfully) watched Mandy and the kids take their last rides on the merry-go-round by Faneuil Hall. Pascal took his last ride on a horse called America, and then we took our last ride to Logan Airport. We formed one last group hug on the sidewalk, which would lead into their terminal. This reunion trip was, I pray, a brilliant tribute to our fathers and their father, who came before, to have forged such a shining family bond where there had been only longing and distance before. As we separated from one another, I felt the tears begin to well up in my eyes. And then they were gone. Feeling immense loving gratitude and intense devastation at the same moment, I watched them disappear through the parting and closing automatic doors . "Parting is such sweet sorrow." I love you, Dad!