My friend, Anita, gave me a month-long subscription to emails from one of my favorite artists (Mary Anne Radmacher) who also incorporates words/poetry into her art. This one made Jonathan and me say "hmmmmmmm, there's a blog post here!"
We are experiencing pebbles . . . both literally and figuratively. Our apartment sits beside a pretty steep hill so when we go across our porch, down the steps, and onto the dirt lane, we are most grateful for the pebbles that are sprinkled all over the hill to give us traction. The sun shines directly on that dirt hill in the afternoon, melting the snow nicely. But as soon as the sun goes down, it turns into a sheet of ice. The camp is "green" and does not use chemicals or salt to melt the ice (besides, it would just wash away during the day!). Instead, maintenance (Jonathan) spreads pebbles/stones over the ice to give traction for walking and driving.
It is not so great, however, when those same pebbles get lodged in the treads of shoes and dragged into our apartment and into the buildings all over camp. They become a source of irritation - potentially damaging the floors - and so add extra work for the housekeeping department (Betty). As the Radmacher quote says, "context impacts every story."
There are also figurative pebbles that are a part of our story here at RMMC. (One of them is how to balance work / rest / recreation.) We have choices about ways in which we allow these figurative pebbles to impact our story. How long will I put up with the irritation before removing the pebble - addressing the issue? Am I allowing this pebble to irritate into a festering wound? How can I use these pebbles in good ways - stepping stones on my path - rather than allowing them to lodge in my shoe - and cause untold damage?
What are the pebbles in your story?
-Betty & Jonathan
