Thank God It’s Over Friday Round-Up

My husband’s big retirement event was tonight. At the end of it, he was happy, really happy. It could not have been a better send-off for him. More about that tomorrow when I’ll have more pictures.

Two of my intrepid kids were there, one of them suddenly blond. It’s amazing to me that they turn up at these events, so far afield from their own lives, and just go with the flow. My son was the only person at the event wearing a baseball cap but then it was held in a baseball stadium. So totally him.

For the second time, our dog, Swirl, pulled a 500-count box of Q-Tips out of the bathroom cupboard to strew on his blanket tonight. The juxtaposition of this picture with the other notable Friday Roundup items may seem peculiar but it fits, oddly, if only in my head.

The people we know, the people who were lions of our work, who defined community development in Milwaukee, well, they are getting old. I saw many of them tonight and that’s what I thought. But it’s probably what they are thinking, too. We are on that thin, thin fence – we are a force, we were a force – and we know which way we’re dropping.

There is an enormous place in my heart for people who show up. I love the people who say, “Of course, I’ll be there,” as if your asking made it the most important thing they had to do that day. So I endeavor to be like them – to show up, be present, and stay the whole time. It’s a precious, precious thing.