My Parents Were Born on the Cusp ...

The Cusp for Gemini/Cancer is June 19 to June 23. My mother's birthday was June 19. My dad's was June 21. My dad was nine years older than my mother and he had been married once before. He was in the U.S. Army when they met at Fort Lee, Virginia when my mother was 23-years-old.

My mother on her wedding day.

My mother used to say she met my dad on the dance floor. My Aunt Evelyn had danced with him first, then he asked my mother for a dance. My Aunt Evelyn said he never danced with another woman again that she knew about.

Their marriage was full of passion. I'm sure about that. My brother and I often observed the knock-down-drag-out brawls from a distance and, somehow, we knew it wasn't about us. It was about them. My mother was a social butterfly if one ever existed, and very opinionated! My dad was introverted and thoughtful and very, very smart. That made for some great arguments about politics at the dinner table, too!

After their brawls, they would make up, and we didn't get to see that. They would tell us they were going to have a private conversation and they would go in their bedroom, close the door and turn on the radio. We usually took that for a sign to go outside and play. We didn't care what they were doing. We were kids. We were just glad they weren't fighting anymore.

My dad on his wedding day.

Being born on the cusp must mix things up. That's the only thing I've been able to figure out after all these years. I'm not sure how much influence the position of the sun and moon and stars has on us as human beings, but, I have long believed that was why my mom and dad had such a turbulent relationship. The generations weren't so different back then (1949) as they are today. Where they had seen World Wars and a new prosperity arrive in America during my parents' lifetimes, ten years between a man and woman can mean a lot more in these modern times. Depending on when we were born, we would have listed to different music, used different technologies, watched different movies and TV shows ... these experiences, as shared by each generation, create a bond between the people who lived through it. To have an intimate relationship with someone who didn't listen to, say, the Beatles, or who didn't see the movie, "The Graduate," might mean they won't understand the perspective of those of us who did. All of these experiences have an impact on our thinking and our expectations and are a part of us and who we become. I think that's why a lot of May-December marriages don't work out nowadays.

But, then, that's just my opinion.

Happy Birthday, Mom and Daddy, wherever you are. I'm hoping that you're together in heaven. You're buried next to each other here on Earth! 

Around here? Earth Day hangover approaching ...

Around here, it's the "busy" season. As an environmental educator, the months of March and April are filled with requests for presentations on water pollution and events focused on conservation. It is, after all, south Florida and we do, after all, live in the Everglades!

visited over 400 fifth grade students at three different schools, one classroom at a time and talked about water pollution

served as the outreach connection at Water Matters Day at Tree Tops Park for more than 500 folks who care about things like saving water ~ the kids love the Enviroscape model and they don't realize that they're learning something important while they play with the little cars

challenged the local politicians about the significance of teaching school children about the Everglades (they don't seem to find it important enough to fund)

photographed our mascot, Teddy the Turtle, with a lot of the local environmental 'celebrities' at the Waterway Cleanup along the C-11 Canal

clipped news articles about the next steps in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, a 30 year plan to restore the flow of water to Florida Bay at the southern tip of the Florida peninsula

organized the 8th Annual Children's Art Competition, "Everglades Eyes: What Children See," and accepted 119 entries from five different schools in Celebration of Earth Day on April 22 ~ the artists are fourth and fifth grade students that I've visited with my Enviroscape model and my pep talk about the Everglades and they totally "get it!"

planted a tree in honor of Arbor Day on April 25, a dahoon holly, a Florida native tree that has red berries that the birds love to eat

shopped for a bottle of wine with which to nurse my "Earth Day hangover!"

And, what have you been up to this month?

Sliding into August

It's been a wild and crazy month and, here we are, the last day of July! Oh, my!

This month was chock full of fun!

I provided the raffle dolls and table dolls for 'Tea with Barbie' at Old Davie School and enjoyed watching moms and dads and grandmothers with their little girls, all dressed in finery, some with tiaras, many accompanied by their Barbies, having fun in the lovely Barbie World we created on the second floor of the school!

We had "live" Barbie models doing a fashion show, and after tea was served, they returned to sign autographs! It was so much fun to watch little girls posing for photos with living Barbies, eyes filled with stars!  We gave away a bunch of Barbie dolls and Barbie-related items during the raffle. And, it was absolutely wonderful to see 248 people immerse themselves in the world of Barbie for a couple of hours! What joy!

The tea party was followed by the opening of Art Gallery 21 at the Woman's Club of Wilton Manors with an exhibition of artwork from eight local artists. I have lived in Wilton Manors for 25 years and have seen it change a lot over the last ten of those years, but the one thing we didn't have was a 'cultural center.' So, we're making one!

I'm not a painter or artist in the traditional sense of the word. I'm a community organizer. And, some of my art friends think that it's an art to start something from nothing, which is pretty much what we did. However, these kinds of projects ('Tea with Barbie' and 'Art Gallery 21') may have started out as my idea, but they no longer belong to just me. Other people have latched onto them and made them their own, and THAT's how it works! I call it 'cosmic velcro' when that happens!

And, the best thing? It's always way better than anything I could've imagined on my own! As you can see in the photo, Miss Lily Grace spotted the portrait her Uncle Carl had painted of her, and, lucky for me, I had my camera in hand! These are the delightful things in this life that make whatever we've done worth doing!

So, how's that for an end of July report?

I think it's pretty darned cool ...