Ben

So many emails show up daily in my inbox that I no longer try to read them all, and from time to time, as they build up unread, I scroll down and delete nonpersonal ones without reading - - news, spiritual aids, some I've subscribed to and enjoy but life gets in the way of reading them all. Browsing my inbox early this morning I came across and opened the DelanceyPlace.com piece about a blind boy who learned to navigate life and "see" his world with echolocation. It was remarkable. Ben Underwood was born with retinoblastoma and had to have both eyes removed when he was three years old to prevent or slow the cancer's spread. He seemed to have missed little in life including running, playing sports, walking places. He refused to use a cane and, close to my intrigue, he could tell a car from a truck! I wonder if knowing of such people might help turn discouragement to challenge in facing one's own inconveniences, difficulties and troubles.

Last evening we had our monthly Sep-May EfM alum gathering for supper and visit. There were nine of us. The HNES board was meeting in the church, so we were outside under our new pavilion, to which, amazingly, a category 5 hurricane did little or no damage though it did substantial work on our other church buildings, took the roof off our two-story building and left the second floor rooms entirely open to the skies.

The pavilion has a fireplace in which we had a blazing fire warming and cheering us against the drizzly chill, and encouraging us to share our hurricane stories. Each one's story is as different as everything else about each one's life experience, and as different as where each one is living now, and as each one's outlook. In framing mine, I'm going to try and remember Ben Underwood.

Wednesday: five weeks and making it.
RSF&PTL

T