Where I've Been in the U.S.

create your own visited states map

This is really fun! I never noticed before how my destinations have been rather contiguous. It sort of makes sense on the West Coast, where I live. But not all can be explained solely in terms of being geographically linked to a primary destination.

1. California: Born, bred, educated. Interesting note: can now pass two of these sites (thr first house I lived in and my alma mater) on the way to work.
2. Oregon: vacation a few years ago. Which would have been lovely, but a nasty fall resulted in every appendage being scraped. So I was in pain and REALLY grouchy for most of it.
3. Hawaii: Vacationed twice on Maui, once on Hawaii. Warm weather really does make people nicer.
4. Nevada: Went to Reno with my dad to see Whoopi Goldberg perform.
5. Arizona: vacationed several times, most recently a birding trip to the Southeast.
6. Oklahoma: visited family a couple of summers.
7. Louisiana: visited a friend in college there, also vacationed for my birthday one year.
8. Ohio: visited a college friend.
9. Indiana: visited a (now) ex and family.
10. Pennsylvania: Friends General Conference (FGC) Gathering. in Johnstown.
11. Virginia: FGC in Blacksburg.
12. New York: my first big trip. I went to see the Chagall exhibit at MOMA and the Magritte exhibit at the Met. Also returned when my friend Beth was considering grad school.
13. Massachusetts: visited Boston with Beth on same scoping out grad school trip. Several visits since then as she bought a house on the wrong coast.
14. Maine: road trip with Beth on one of the aforementioned visits. There are some benefits to having a friend buy a house on the wrong coast, though I hate to admit it.

Try it, you'll like it!

create your own visited states map

Where I've Been in the World

A seasoned world traveler I am not. However, this is still fun. Try it yourself:
create your own visited countries map
or vertaling Duits Nederlands

At the Crossroads Between Fear and Hope

My Quaker meeting is a large, urban, liberal meeting that is currently facing a lot of major decisions. We are considering whether to renovate our properties, contemplating our relationship to the environment, and considering taking on a ministry to young adult Friends in the form of a Quaker service year. At the same time that all of these decisions are on the surface, there is an undercurrent of both grief and fear within the meeting.
The source of the grief and fear is multifaceted. One aspect is the perception of some Friends that we are an aging and dying meeting. We have had several beloved members die in the last year. Many of our members are elderly, and we have not been able to retain our young people. Another dimension is the dilemma common to many liberal meetings: how to deal with the tensions between the Christian heritage of Quakerism and the theological diversity within our meetings. The quality of our meetings for worship has become unpredictable. Some days are rich and vital, infused with the same expectant waiting that moved me to tears the first time I attended. But often there is inappropriate speech, including direct replies to previous messages that turn meeting for worship into an intellectual debate. Finally, as we swing from fear to hope and back again, it strains the ties within our community. If we're a dying meeting, what do we have to offer a newcomer? If we don't feel that we have a place in the community, how can we extend hospitality to others on the margins of the meeting?
We can choose to move forward into the Light with open hearts, or we can choose to shrink in fear and remain in the shadows. May we have the faith to trust God to open the way, and ourselves to follow Divine leading.