Shared Perspective

Bert anticipates that I have some heavy-duty reading and computer work to do. She's right about at my eye level, and purring like a well-oiled Allis Chalmers tractor.

It's been a crazy morning.

A visit from a repair guy cost $350 and he left promising to return in about 10 days when the part arrives. The bad news? It's for the washing machine. The good news? If we want clean underwear (...and we DO...) we'll be seeing our family more than we usually do.

Other news? Ugh. It's looking like The Powers That Be may decide to total our car that was involved in the accident Saturday. We *do* have a 2nd car, and often only one of our cars is ever used by us at one time, but on the days when both of us need to be somewhere very different from each other, being suddenly a one-car family will be a challenge. Worse yet? Both cars are leased. We don't yet know what the liability for payment will be, but we're trying to stay optimistic. We still had a bit more than a year on the agreement, so there's a chance the car will be replaced. Of course, we are still clinging to the extremely happy outcome that no one was hurt. Cars are just things, and ultimately replaceable. People are far more important, and completely irreplaceable.

Tonight, though, we both get to help with the beginnings of voting on proposals for grants that will help the neighborhoods of Cleveland. This, I have to say, is a tremendously gratifying thing. I am so excited to be a part of this very worthy process. Reading through the One Page Proposals, these beginnings of ideas, gives me such hope for our struggling city. There are so many people who care!

This is just the first tier of voting for the grant dispersal, and we do have a lot of work to do. I think we have something around 150 submissions, then once we've 'culled the herd' we'll ask for more detailed information from our group. What fun it will be to give money for good work! Rick and I belong to a giving circle called the Cleveland Colectivo, and to see the projects that got funded in 2007, first of all, follow the link. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page, in the middle to the section titled "Six Projects Funded", and there's a link beneath the list to give further information. Throughout the year we were kept up to date on the progress of each group's project. Each was amazing! So completely impressive; Nueva Luz had me in tears, their project was that moving. And so very necessary.

Life is full of challenges, some are good and some are (*sigh*) ones we wish we didn't have to face. They all make us grow. Growth hurts. Sometimes it downright sucks. But if we don't grow we don't progress, and without progress there's no life. I do want to live. So I'll deal with the pain. It'll make the pleasure that much sweeter. And perhaps I'll learn to purr like Bert.