Today is my last day at the Light Center in Kansas. I want to savor every minute of it. It starts with a trip to Lawrence to get a fence someone is giving away! Just what we were looking for!!!Alex, the 18-year old new Woofer, Robin and I squeeze into the old truck, and some unscrewing and sawing later, triumphantly drive our trophy back and generously high-five each other for the great find.
The afternoon goes by fast and ends with a great potluck with the local neighbors and closest friends of Robin’s I have met this past month. As we share the delicious food everyone has made, we feel like a nice little tribe connected around Robin. I will miss them all, even those I just met.
Tonight is the night Alex introduces me to S’Mores which I have never had yet! Another rite of passage as a new American! While I pack, Alex and Trish, the new weekend volunteer, make a bonfire outside the barn. When I come out, Robin and the two of them are comfortably chatting around the roaring fire while Ali, the dog, is curled up nearby.
Alex hands me the munitions: A sharpened stick and a marshmallow. He explains the art of roasting marshmallows. I watch mine expand like a nuked mushroom. At the perfect moment, Alex catches it between two Graham crackers and a piece of chocolate and I bite into it. I enjoy the novelty of the experience more than the taste but discover that roasted marshmallows alone taste like crunchy meringue. Not bad!
I savor my last evening in Kansas chatting around the comforting fire as the temperature slowly drops. The subject of the conversation moves to sodas and ends with Alex daring me to have my first root beer float first thing tomorrow morning as a sure way to wake my system up before heading to the airport at 6:30am. This dare makes me feel like a teenager again and I giddily accept under the condition that he has one too, which he gladly agrees to.
As I go to bed, my stuffed is packed and I cuddle with Buzzy, the drooling cat. I am full of gratitude for what I have experienced this past month at the Light Center. My goal was to face my ‘old stuff’ in order to turn the heavy page of my past and my stay has presented me with the perfect opportunities to clean up, open up, face up, and let go. Only I could do it but I definitely could not do it alone, and I got the perfect help and more in Kansas.
Thank you.
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