The Tybee Judicial Process

Goddess and Winston, the little gay dog, got a continuance in Tybee Court last night. They have to reappear on December 4 having been charged with barking which brought the Tybee Island Police Department to our house on numerous occasions.

Seriously five different officers visited on three different occasions and wrote three different citations in a one week period! Someone had complained.

Dog barking is apparently one of Tybee's most major crimes ranking in the same category as DUI, swimming beyond fifty feet of the Pier, using your yard to make money by selling parking on the forth of July or walking into a party of underage drinkers as the only one of legal age.

The Tybee Coyote was not mentioned last night but the fifteen police officers present all kept a hand on their guns just in case.

Goddess seemed cool about it all. I think she smoked a few doobies before heading to court.

Winston, the little gay dog, was upset because he was wearing his "Alcohol Was A Factor" sweater that he got from the Bored Meeting. He bought it from O Johnny (not to be confused with Johnny O) when the Bored got into merchandizing.

This is how Tybee Court works.

First you stand in line so an officer can use his magic wand on you. He takes longer with some people than he does with others. He took a long time with Sarah and not so much with me.

Once inside you have to find a seat. Of course there are none as they're all taken up by the fifteen members of the Tybee Island Police Department.

That's not completely true. Several stand guard over the women's rest room at all times. Evidently bad things have happened in the women's restroom at Tybee Court. I could just waltz into the Men's restroom without being re-wanded.

The Judge comes out. Judges are people who used to be normal human beings until they put on a black robe. Then they become something completely different.

Court begins.

The guilty go first, meaning they plead guilty and are assessed fines, community service, school, counseling,  listen to a lecture from the black robed Judge, talk to the Public Defender and informed that checks are not taken ... credit cards and money orders only.

Afterwards the attorneys go with their clients.

The Judge knows them all so they all joke and laugh a lot. "May I approach?" the attorneys ask and the Judges winks and says "You may, " and they joke, giggle and such with their backs to everyone. A Plea Bargain is announced and the attorneys get to leave while the rest of us have to wait.

The Not-Guilty pleas follow. The Judge warns every single one that they need an attorney. There are none to be found which dispels a myth that they are ambulance chasers.  It does create another one though that Judges are in collusion with attorneys.

As all of this is happening, the Court credit card machine is racking up major bucks. Everyone is fined something or given community service on Tybee (which is free labor). The Tybee Island Police Department all appear happy. The Judge is obviously ready to be done. Tybee is rolling in the dough.

That was three hours of my life last night for the barking of a seven year old pot smoking dog and a little gay thing, Winston, who cried all night because he felt he'd dressed wrong.

But it got a continuance.

We get to do it all again in two weeks.

Coming in the air

Though the wind continues to blow, the sun shines brightly making things more cheery than the cloudy bluster of the past several days. It was warm enough last night for me to sit outside with my bare feet resting near the fire in the Chiminea my kids gave me, though blue jeans and a long sleeve was necessary.

It's a time of transition.

I can feel it in the air.

I can see it in a number of friends.

I can sense it in me.

This time a year ago, Sarah and I were planning our first Thanksgiving together. Two years ago Goddess struggled dealing with little girls who were suddenly around. Three years ago, I lived a completely different life. I was a completely different person.

For the past several months, I've been working to start a new business which is now coming together. We've accomplished a lot though as with anything new there are so many things to be done. It's a communications company that weaves visual story-telling through both social and traditional media streams. And we do it so the customers can do what they do best ... their business! We also bring the one thing that most media managers can't do for clients ... we do it every day! (www.letustellit.com)

A lot of people are surprised because it's a regular American for-profit corporation. My career was born in the church where I learned radial behavior because Scriptures teach radical things. It progressed to decades of non-profit work where I gave myself completely away to things I believed and I learned an important lesson ... if you give yourself away ... people will take it.

I was luckier than most. Somehow I'd amassed enough capital to finance myself through an adventure of self-renewal. In reality I think it was self-discovery (when you're so busy giving yourself away you forget who you really are which is really where the whole concept of being reborn comes from).

A long time ago I wrote a book, "PARTNERS IN GRACE." My friend Frank Stanton coined the title. It's about how grace just happens ... unexpected gifts from God if you believe in God ... serendipity or karma if you don't ... but each of us are lucky enough to have good things happen. Sprinkles magically appear on ice cream, music comes from nowhere, in the midst of loss you find things ... you learn you can't have resurrections without crucifixions which is a bitch of a lesson.

For me, a carnival of friends burst into my life to take control when I wasn't in charge of much anymore. Other friends were raised from the dead and rolled away the stone preventing the light from entering. Bar Church was born. Sarah came home.

Now the capital needed to allow time for grace to occur is dwindling so it was to be replenished which is the bitchy thing about money ... you always have to replace it! The more you need, the more it takes. The more you spend, the more you need.

I was thinking these things at 2:43 this morning. Something was different though. Sarah lay beside me so all was calm, all was bright. One of the friends who raised himself from the dead wrote me demanding that it's time for us to make our own music again. The Carnival of Friends had a party and the evidence is online today. The gift my kids give me continues to throw warmth.

"I can feel it coming in the air coming in the air tonight," Phil Collins sings and everybody groans because we've heard it so many times.

But it's the next line that has me captured this morning.

"Oh Lord, I've been waiting for this moment all my life."

The Slap of Reality

It is definitely Monday.

I wish I were somewhere else.

Actually I wish that Sarah and I were in St. Martin where I wouldn't have need of the shirt that I'm wearing or anything else either. The aqua-blue water of Orient Bay, the powdery white sand, the glorious view of waves breaking on the reef and the sun dripping warmth would do us good right now.

Alas, the beloved back deck is carpeted with brown leaves, the sun refuses to come out from under the blanket of clouds, and a chilly breeze blows from the ocean. The list of things to do is long and its only a two day week to accomplish them all.

It was a glorious weekend, as they normally are, and good times were had by all. Friday began with a date, Saturday was an explosion of activity and Sunday was born in worship and ended with the Carnival of Friends. Sunday ended late last night.

Monday arrived WAY TOO EARLY!

I've had a lot on my mind lately, mostly work related stuff. Creating something out of nothing is always a challenge. Businesses, books and brokering take a lot of effort. They also play Mind Games with me, waking me up at 4:30 in the morning and leaving me restless to tackle them. I feel the need to deliver as it's been a long time since I've been so conscious of such things.

Monday begins with a stutter, as though it is an Albatross around my neck ... an anchor pulling me back into Sunday where I'd much rather be. But there is work to be done and it's harder working this way sometimes. There are so many distractions, so many delights, always tempting me to forget that if I'm going to keep living, there are things to be done.

I am full of wishful thinking today. It's the planning for pleasant things instead of the harsh realities that things simply must be done. I'd rather stay in the fantasy cycle but I'm smart enough to know that make-believe can never be reconciled with reality. So I drag my ass out of bed to get started.

Mondays are always a slap of reality to your face when I'd much rather be somewhere else.

And When I Die

We were having our wills done when Bill Shearouse asked, "And when you die?"

"Cremate me," I quickly said.

"Seriously" Sarah asked?

"Yeah, why?"

"I think I'm going to be buried," she explained.

"That's alright," I told her, "You can throw my ashes on your casket."

Bill didn't seem to know what to write down.

The fact of the matter is, I've always planned to be cremated. My Dad was cremated and hasn't missed a University of Georgia game since. Angi, my sister, pulls him out and sets him in his chair, opens a beer beside him and Dad cheers for the DAWGS with the rest of us.

I've instructed Jeremy, Kristen and Chelsea ... my kids ... that when I die, cremate me and put my ashes in little baggies that I will leave for them. Each baggie will have a name on it. The names are of people I don't like ... the Board Chair who chooses to remain anonymous (Jerry Rainy) and other assholes like him.

Then one of my beloved children will tap one on the shoulder having dumped my ashes from the baggie into their hand.

"Dad says Hi," the will explain as they blow my ashes into their face.

I think its a wonderful way to go out.

What are your funeral plans?

As you can see, I've got mine all figured out.

My Daughter's Mixed Marriage

Chelsea called yesterday to tell me that my soon to be Son-in-law is not only graduating from Georgia Tech next month but has accepted a paid internship with the Georgia Department of Transportation.

She was driving to her Alma Mata, the University of Georgia, for today's game when she gave me Sam's big news.

It is true that they're going to be a mixed marriage.

We all know that love is strange but Georgia marrying Georgia Tech? God did not ordain the universe this way. But I love my daughter and have grown to love Sam and cannot imagine them not being together.

Well, today they're not together.

She's at the Georgia game with her brother Jeremy and my brilliant daughter-in-law Marie and Sam is going to attend whatever is going to occur on Grant Field at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

As brilliant as my future son-in-law is, Sam sometimes makes really stupid decisions. He could be with Chelsea who is beautiful, at a better game, with a prettier stadium, more attractive uniforms, stunning cheerleaders, and cheer for the team that God pulls for.

Alas, he opted out.

I think its going to work out fine at the Georgia Department of Transportation. The place is a mess and has been for years. Georgia has lots of roads that lead to nowhere so Sam has the opportunity to fix that.

Of course he will only be one person among numerous Georgia Tech graduates working at the Georgia Department of Transportation. There's only so much he will be able to do. I mean have to you seen how they screwed up Atlanta? The civil engineering in Georgia's capital is perfect ... if you like to sit in your car.

I've become convinced the reason Smart phones were invented is so people sitting in cars in Atlanta traffic trying to get to the office can get some work done while they wait. They'll get to the office just in time to leave for the commute home.

I have a lot of confidence in Sam though.

He'll fix all of this soon.

I'll make sure of this next weekend when I see him again. When the rambling wreck of Georgia Tech (concrete evidence they don't teach poetry there) visits the promised land in Athens. Where traffic flows freely, the skies are always blue, and the beer at the Globe is the best.

Me and Barry White

Having just lit the grill, I throw more Palm fronds on the fire. It's dark and I have Barry White streaming on the computer so sex is dripping from the stars and people are in ecstasy somewhere. The Lord's name is not being taken in vain but in other, more glorious ways.

It makes me wonder if Barry started as a Gospel singer. Can you imagine what he'd do to a Hymn in Church?

I can just see the laying on of hands ... the speaking in tongues ... the utterances of God's name in new and creative ways ... the slaying of the spirit ... THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY WATER!

Hallelujah!! Glory!!

My friend Gloria Coleman once told me that more babies were made to Barry White music than any other musician and I believe it. The man sings sex. Prince just pretends in the same world as Barry. He's not.

It's hard not to like Barry White but I can see why he was never invited to sing in church.

So I'm doing this little dance to "Can't get enough of your love baby", standing by the fire on a cold, damp night. I'm dancing between the fire and the grill to turn the steaks.

The storm we just experienced is not without its benefits. Palm fronds are littered around the yard. I pick them up and throw them on the fire. Even when they're wet they burn great. So while it's cold everywhere else on the island, the beloved back is HOT because of Barry White and fire!

And it's almost the weekend.

I'm ready for the weekend! Sarah and I have date tonight.  Tomorrow is a 1950's theme party at Ohio Bob's house. The beloved DAWGS of Georgia play. It's Johnny O's birthday and his anniversary with Judy O! (The man is smart. He may forget one but he never forgets the other.) God told Samuel Adams to tell Sarah and me that we're back in the Bar Church band. It's a lot!

Barry White has now moved on to "It's Ecstasy when you lay down next to me" and I wonder where Sarah is.

Can I get an AMEN?

Hopping Time

"Am I in your book," sweetly asks each of the girls most every day.

"I dunno," I say shrugging my shoulders. "If you pick up your toys. I might put you in."

We engage in mutual manipulation.

The fact is they are in a lot of the stories. They're part of my life which is what I write about so how can they not be? I just don't want to tell them yet. I need to always keep an Ace or two in pocket.

Besides, they need to talk to my kids who have were in my other books. They'll be the first to say that it's not all that.

There are other references too. People I included in books who got really pissed off that they were in one. I thought I was showing them love and respect and they thought otherwise. What do you do? Move on. Gain friends while losing others, trade in old dreams for new ones, and learn to trust ... your love, yourself, God, the things you believe.

I downloaded a new App the other day. Timehop shows what I wrote as a status report on Facebook last year, the year before and the year before that. It's fascinating!

Three years ago my status was, "thinks there's too many windows in this heart hotel." I just discovered I was suddenly single along with the rest of the world.

The next year I "going home by another way." I was in St. Martin when I wrote that seriously considering moving there permanently.

Last year I knew "that the pain comes today, is here then goes away, and we are homeward bound and I ... I want this more than life." I was actually home when I wrote this waiting on Sarah.

You can tell I've come a long way. Today's status is "everybody knows there's nobody meaner than the little old lady from Pasadena." I was singing to the Beach Boys driving home after taking Maddie to school.

Part of today will be spent working on the book that the girls want to be in and they are there ... somewhere in the stacks. Along with my kids, friends lost and gained, old dreams and new ones, Sarah, me, God and the things I believe in.

I'm hopping time. Remembering the past but very much living in the present.

And hoping like hell for tomorrow.

Everything is a lot

The kitchen table looks like it was hit by a Mail truck! Almost 600 pieces of paper are in stacks of various sizes associated into topics ... being suddenly single and surviving a divorce, Non-Profit leadership, life on Tybee Island, Spirituality and finding love again while starting over.

I sigh.

There's another 600 pages of this stuff that hasn't been printed yet for me to wade through.

Last week I spoke with a Publisher and she expressed interest in books on four of the topics. Can you give me the first three chapters of each?" she asked. "Next week?"

Every single day for the past three years I've written what was going on in my life and put it out there. My life is not-so-neatly stacked in four piles.

Picking up something I wrote two years ago, I look at how long it is. I read it and the words drip in darkness. Behind the words I can see me fighting through sadness. I put it back in its stack.

It's tough work to examine your life like this.

It's even harder to share it.

Grabbing another stack I read, "I am contemplating having a party and setting my Christmas Tree on fire ... there's nothing like little pieces of sadness hanging from the branches of a broken family tree."

I walk outside.

Goddess raises her head from sleeping and watches me. Out of old habits, she seems concerned.

A cold ocean wind whips through the trees. Brown leaves are strewn across the deck. There is no sunshine today.

Things I wrote three years ago are long, brooding paragraphs. What I wrote yesterday was lighthearted fun. A lot happened in-between.

I don't know how I would have gotten through without "writing it out," as my son Jeremy puts it. It was my way of letting all of the sadness and hurt out. It's easier to blog than it is to publish a book and I was fighting for survival and didn't have the time anyway.

And the daily writing became more akin to praying.

Then I was shocked to learn that people actually read it every day. A lot took the time to let me know. More than I thought told me they were experiencing similar things but just didn't know how to express it. These were the ones who encouraged me to keep doing it ... for them.

I'm busy remaking my life these days. Aside from my kids and where I live, everything has changed! Everything is a lot.

Staring at the stacks describing who I was, I whisper a prayer for who I am.

Who Knew?

The eight year old woke believing she is an Opera Singer and is screeching to the top of her lungs. The six year old has me spraying sparkles in her hair so it's difficult to type ... much less complete a  thought.

On the way to my nine o'clock meeting in Savannah I'm going to slow down to 35 miles per hour and drop them off at school.

Then I'll have some quiet time.

It's a crazy way to begin a day with a heavy agenda. I'm used to crazy. Thirty years of working with homeless people, I've seen and heard everything! I know how to deal with the real life crisis of people's lives.

So I lock the girls in their room and tell them to get ready for school.

It's a beautiful day as I sit on the beloved back deck.

Waves are giving loud sloppy kisses to the shore. Choirs of birds are singing hymns. The sun is throwing diamonds on the ocean. I believe in God again.

The Opera screeching resumes and the birds all fly away.

The six year old complains that I only sprayed one side of her hair and is now making demands that I stop what I'm doing and fix it.

The sun hides behind a cloud.

But I've learned new things today already.

Who knew Opera could be sung at that high of a pitch?

Who knew glitter is to be evenly sprayed in hair?

I have a feeling that I'll be learning lots more today.

This side of Monday

Monday began with the sound of waves crashing. Laying in the dark, the steady roll of the ocean carried the soft crash into the sand through our open bedroom windows. There is no better sound to regain consciousness to and while Sarah continued to sleep, I lay there appreciating it.

At The Breakfast Club I wished everyone a good morning, poured myself a cup of coffee and walked back outside. The waves are louder here because I'm just steps from the ocean. I imagine Mermaids frolicking in the surf.

Back home, I fire the computer and take my seat in the high top table on the Beloved back deck. The waves continue to sing. Opening Facebook, there's my friend and business partner Wen McNally's post. "It's getting late but I have enjoyed the peaceful sounds of the crashing waves ..."

Pausing, I listen to them as the sun rises. It's further to the south now so it misses the Palm Tree with the oyster face, coconut bra and grass skirt, choosing to rest between it and Fran's thousand shades of green.

Looking back to Facebook, my friend Leigh writes, "Good morning Outer Banks! Your sunrise was beautiful this morning. I love the sound of waves. So peaceful."

Sitting back, rubbing my fingers through my hair, the waves continue to sing drowning out the choirs of birds.

"There is something special about this Monday," I think to myself.

There is a holiness to it that's uncommon for the first day back to work. A playful peacefulness permeates.

I am five blocks from the ocean but it sounds as though the waves are kissing the shore in my back yard. A beauty drips on my bare feet and Goddess watches me carefully. Sarah is still in bed but its only seven o'clock. It strikes me that the sound of waves is the language of prayer, much purer than Church and created by God Herself.

The phone rings and I run like a banzai to get it before Sarah can hear it. It's her oldest daughter who is at school but has forgotten something. Apparently if she doesn't get, the world will come to an end.

The other side of Monday raises its ugly head. Sarah is awake. Information is exchanged. Shit suddenly starts to happen. Work has begun.

Strolling back to the deck, the waves continue to sing. Mermaids are still dancing. The sun is wearing a smile. Fran's thousand shades of green are dancing.

I'm going to stay on this side of Monday today.

Something very special is in the air.

Ready to be Home

It's been like three years in a row. I've written every single day and got it on-line ... somehow. I've been all over the country and in several Caribbean Islands and Central America and still wrote every day. On our honeymoon, Sarah slept late and I wrote on the balcony in Belize. Between looking at Sarah sleeping and the Sea, it took me a long time to get anything done, but I did.

After an extremely successful celebratory night ... after the Beloved Dawgs of Georgia assumed the throne of the SEC East ... Bill Berry (not the drummer for REM but the other one) and I ended up in a hot top full of black people. We toasted and laughed.

The next thing I knew I woke up ... in the hotel room bed ... I have no idea how I got there.

I was instantly awake and ready to go.

Stumbling to the other bed room in the condo, Bill was snoring. I assume he had no idea how he got to bed either.

The sun was rising.

The living room looked like a National Linen Truck had crashed into it. Clothes were everywhere.

It took me a while to fund my phone under one of the piles.

I needed coffee bad. So I threw the clothes in my UGA bag, grabbed the phone and jumped in the car. First I wrote Bill a text ... "Later", it said.

An hour and a half later my phone starts buzzing. It was Bill wanting to know where in the hell I was.

I couldn't take the call because I was holding my head with one hand and driving with the other.

The phone kept buzzing. Staring at it through the two pair of sunglasses I was wearing, it was friends wanting to know where in the hell my blog was.

"Shit," I thought to myself. "I forgot to blog too."

Then Bill was calling me nasty names so I put the phone back under the clothes which were then in the back seat.

The sun came up so I put a third pair of sunglasses on and hit the cruise control.

The radio was blasting the Acoustic Storm. Cops blew by me. I put the top down and my hair blew in the wind. The throw up feeling went away.

"Ah," I thought to myself, "I'm ready to be home."

A Sports Bar Night

Bill's truck pulled into the parking lot and he broke into a large grin. Sitting on the trunk of my car having an adult beverage, I returned the smile. We embraced and the weekend reunion of two great friends began.

"I may as well tell you now," I said after he stood back. "I got bad news."

His face filled with grave concern. "What," he asked.

"We got to find a sports bar tomorrow night," I explained.

"Are you telling me ..." he spit.

"Yep, the Beloved Dawgs of Georgia are playing for the championship and we have to watch it."

"The other week I sent you a picture of me in pink bunny suit and you didn't even respond," he told me. "An hour later I send you a picture of naked people painted blue and red at Fantasy Fest ... no reaction. Then I send you a congratulations on Georgia betting Florida and you immediately come back with 'GO DAWGS!' I see how it is."

"Do you have a point," I asked.

Bill has the incredible misfortune of being poorly raised by really terrific parents. They did everything right except teach him to love college football, especially in the South. He lives in Virginia which used to be in the south but I believe its moved north. That could be the reason.

"I tell you what," I continue as I slap him on the back. "It'll be a really nice sports bar."

Later in the day, we take a break from reminiscing, storytelling and lies so I call Sarah and tell her how Bill's attempts to message me and the lone response I had.

"Welcome to my world," she signed.

"Do you have a point," I lovingly asked her?

For some reason Bill want to know go get Breakfast. I want to go scope out Sports Bars for the game which could put the "Chosen DAWGS of Georgia" back on the throne of the SEC East. It's only 12 hours to kickoff.

He wants breakfast.

Jesus!

Picking up where we left off

I'm zipping up I-95 until I turn off on to Highway 17 for a ride through the marshes until I bypass Charleston and then drive through more marshes until I arrive in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I am doing this, not because it the birthplace of Shag but to meet up with Bill Berry (not the former drummer for REM but the other one).

We met in Seminary and for the past quarter of a century have gotten together at least annually. We've been everywhere together. Our first "boys trip" was to Bardstown, Kentucky about an hour from the Seminary. We would drive there for the bourbon and to visit Gethsemane, the Trappist Monastery made famous by Thomas Merton. We were thrown out of it once for jumping the wall into the cloistered area and literally landing on top of two Monks who had taken vows of silence. When I landed on them they quickly broke their vows.

We've been to New York City where there is this Irish Pup on the lower east side. That's all I remember about that trip.

Paris, France was next and I fell in love with the place. The french fries really are better than anything in the United States and we couldn't bear to leave so we didn't for a while.

Then we went to Munich, Germany and found the beer halls. We locked arms with a hundred Germans, singing songs we didn't know and planned revolution over a bonfire that night. Somehow we made it out of the country.

Cuba was next which was great. American foreign policy towards Cuba is crazy. Those are some of the nicest people I've ever met. When I flew home I was busted by American Immigration. I didn't have a letter from the Treasury Department. They threw me in a room and yelled at me.

When I got out I called Bill and asked him about aforementioned letter.

"Damn," he said. "I knew I forgot to give you something.

Krakow Poland was after that and the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz. My life changed that day. Standing in front of a Crematorium that burned Jews and Gypsies, I found a broken pair of children scissors laying on the ground. They broke my heart and rest in a place of honor in our home for the little girl or boy who dropped them before being murdered.

I could go on.

Bill and I met as young adults, on fire for God and were blessed with the chance to grow up together. We're still growing up. We're still helping each other do it.

Lifelong friends are hard to come by. Count your blessings when you have some. Bill and I somehow can go months without talking and then pick right back up where we left off. So for the next 48 hours that's what we're going to do. Pick up where we left off. 

When the sky falls down

The wind was whipping off the ocean slapping our faces with cold while Chelsea and I made our way back to the warmth of The Breakfast Club, a block away. The New Year's Day fireworks were painting the sky in brilliant colors but the damned Northeastern wind kept blowing the colors away from the sea where they were supposed to explode in delight to the parking lot of the Strand.

Then pieces of the sky started to fall as the paper balls that hold the explosives were blown backwards. They hit the beach, the parking lot and the water front homes. And one hit my little daughter directly on top of her head. She burst into tears and I grabbed her.

The celebration of one year's death and another's birth would go on without us.

I dreamed about that last night. Something I haven't thought about in years was just as real as when it happened. I could see the smoke cover the bright colors in the sky, hear the sound of the plastic and cardboard hitting the ground, taste my little girl's tears and curse the cold.

Life's like that sometimes.

Brilliant colors explode giving you delight. Love erupts, promises are made, everything fits together nicely and everything feels like a blessing. Prayers of thanksgiving are made followed by pleas that God never changes anything. Life is perfect!

Then it's not.

The sky falls.

Anger flashes. Love is reigned in as though trying to hold sand in your fingers but you don't want to be hurt. Blessings suddenly feel like burdens. Prayers become deals ... "God if you do this for me then I'll do whatever you want." Loneliness drips like cold rain. Nights become long.

We all experience falling skies and damaged lives.

My friend Shirley Sessions takes a very Buddhist approach to such things. She wrote me the other day, "If we don't have sadness in our lives from time to time, we may not appreciate joy when it pops up and fills us with giggles,  laughter and smiles."

Or as the prophet Arlo Guthrie once said, "You can't have a light without a dark to stick it in."

After a long restless night, I woke to a rising sun in clear skies. A little girl was my companion as we made our way to The Breakfast Club. The ocean breeze was light and I whispered prayers of thanksgiving that the darkness was breaking up. Nothing was falling on the ground. There were no tears.

God had wiped it all away.

The blessing is the new day given to us.

It's up to us to whatever we do with it.

Beware of Sadness

Watch out now ,Take care
Beware of thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head
The hopelessness around you
in the dead of the night
Beware of sadness

So says the major prophet George Harrison. Sitting beside the window of the Gallery Espresso at 8:30 in the morning I stare out at the cold morning with a steaming cup of coffee in front of me. I'm here for a meeting but he is late so I have time ... to think and stare.

A few years before I left Union Mission, I knew it was time for me to do something else. Professionally I'd already accomplished everything there was to do there. So I'd bring it up to the Board of Directors and they would tell me lies.

"You can't go! You're too important. We need you."

As a people pleaser with degrees in both social work and Divinity, I kept them happy while continuing my march to the cross. Of course I had no idea I was walking into my own crucifixion. I was keeping people happy.

A bunch of stuff happened at the same time. People I relied on left. Co-workers I trusted betrayed. Things started going horribly wrong at work. My marriage fell apart. The Board of Directors changed their minds about me. I was mad at myself for not listening to myself and leaving when I wanted.

Those last months there, I could no longer bear to walk into the office. Like Jesus falling in the dirt because of the burden of the cross he was carrying, I collapsed.

Instead of going to the office I would take my laptop and cellphone to the Gallery Espresso, drink coffee and stare out of the window. I'd take phone calls and reply to e-mail but my heart broke and my spirit flew away. I was just going through the motions.

Today, as the coffee grew cold and bundled people walked their dogs through Chippewa Square, I touched all of these feelings again. I walked through the room called remember. I had my I-phone and no longer needed a lap top. It kept buzzing and I'd read and not know what to say so ... I said little.

Twenty minutes later it was obvious the person I was meeting was a no-show.

I cussed. This was business. We all need more business.

Walking through the cold back to where I'd parked, the I-phone buzzed and it was Sarah. We talked until I sat behind the wheel, out of the wind and began the drive back home. I couldn't wait to get there ... where it's warm. It's a sanctuary where love abounds, little girls make messes, dogs get in trouble with the law, friends are close by and my kids randomly wander in and out (most often over the world wide web).

I've lit another fire outside as I sit typing this. Goddess lays under my dangling bare feet in the kitchen. Winston, the little gay dog, has stolen her treat and barks any time she looks his way. Sarah will be home in an hour or so.

I stare at the fire.

Today is a warning single.

 Watch out now, take care
Beware of thoughts that linger
Winding up inside your head ...

I'm happy to be home.

And I get back to work.

Election Day Blues

It's a rainy, cold morning on island which fits the mood of the country on this election day. Leaders have abdicated politics and we're left with mostly bad choices between those who would be King ... or Queen.

To make it worse, the girls don't have school today so we're all going to be cooped up inside. Each of the girls are very different individuals who will stake out their claim on the day. Meaning they'll make a lot of noise which will of course vie for attention with the noise I make ... which is music streaming from the lap top all day long.

I'll go vote to take a break from it all.

I also have so much work to do today. I feel so behind of where I want us to be right now so that makes me want to work harder. Ideas are flowing freely but time is kidnapping lots of them.

So you know what I did?

I lit a fire on the beloved back deck. The wet wind is blowing outside and leaves are flying off Fran's thousand shades of green. Brown leaves are scattered on the brown wood of the deck making it look  like a mountain cabin somewhere. Rain is misting making it all look Hobbit like. But just on the other side of the sliding glass doors, in the middle of all that, is the fire with sticks of fresh pine burning and throwing off holy smoke.

It's in honor of Mitch Wesley.

He gave me the idea this morning on Facebook when he quoted a John Denver song. It got me thinking about him, the election day blues as I stared at the rotten forecast through the sliding glass doors. The spirit of the Lord moved and impulsively I lit a fire.

He makes me smile and feel better. It's a nice way to start a terrible looking day.

Mitch and I grew up together. After meeting in college we went to Seminary together and then took a thirty year vacation only to have our lives drift back together in a sea of confusion and doubt. We touch each other most every day now.

As soon as I lit the fire I sat back down at the computer as the girls all slept. Jp immediately sent me a message that made me laugh. Mark followed her quickly making me laugh again. Shirley sent me a note pledging allegiance to Goddess and Winston, the little gay dog, and their impending legal problems. Joey, whom I haven't sent since High School, wrote as we made plans for communion in the Keys to celebrate the birth of Christ.

Now my heart glows just like the fire.

In life, friends come and go. Sometimes they come back. Old friends are on LinkedIn or Facebook but true ones crackle and pop like a fire on a cold wet day.

And in spite of all of the things that are wrong ... they make it right.

Election Eve (Deliver us from Evil)

Mitch McConnell was hosting a breakfast for us in the Congressional dining hall which is a delightful place. The food is better than hotel food and the plates are real china. The silverware was the real deal. Congress doesn't scrimp on itself. They use our tax dollars to make certain they are doing just fine.

It doesn't matter the party.

They're all the same once they become members of the elect.

I was with a group of clergy from Louisville and Mitch had been the Chair of the County Commission before moving on up to Congress so he knew us. In the days before  9/11 and elected officials baptized themselves in arrogant pompousness, they really really wined and dined their constituents ... hence the fancy breakfast.

I was the 24 year old pastor of the Jefferson Street Baptist Chapel and wore a blue blazer, sock tie and blue jeans to the affair. Russell Bennett and the rest of the clergy wore three piece suits and looked like ... Congressmen.

Mitch spoke and the ministers stopped eating to prostrate themselves before him.

I remember them stopping to worship. I kept eating my eggs.

Mitch was on 60 Minutes last night, along with his bed mate Harry Reid. They're both the same, trying to screw each other when they're not screwing everybody else.

That's what politics in America has become. It's been reduced to fundamentalism as bad as any on the earth.  Mitch and Harry said as much last night while not really saying anything.

It made me remember the eggs on the fine china in the Congressional dining room and the clergy who prostrate themselves before idol Gods in buildings with gold leaf.

Shaking my head I walked outside and prayed a prayer.

"Deliver us from evil," I said out loud.

Disgusted I spit and walked back inside.

This day that the Lord made

It is simply a marvelous Sunday morning!

I know ... that it's not true in New York City and other places living in recovery. It's also snowing somewhere which always sucks. There are wars and rumors of wars across the world which a lot of people believe is coming to an end anyway ... like Tuesday when we vote.

At this moment, I don't care!

A brilliant, almost white sun, blazes in a light blue sky. Fran's thousand shades of green stretch skyward as though trying to touch it. There is one bloom on the three Hibiscus plants on the beloved back deck but there are fourteen buds getting ready to explode! Goddess is laying under one watching the Cat Lady who is ... chasing cats. At least she has clothes on.

Winston, the little gay dog, is sitting beside my dangling bare feet wearing a red sweater.

The Palm Tree with the oyster face, coconut bra and grass skirt is flashing smiles at me. She needs a new skirt as the ocean breezes have stolen much of her grass. Then again, grass is always disappearing on this island. (I make myself a not to ask Joanie where I can pick up replacement grass.)

Sarah is sleeping beautifully and I check on her from time to time.

"This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24)

HELL YEAH!

"Thanks God," I say out loud. "For November, you have just have freaking outdone yourself!"

The music streaming on the computer is out of Key West. Pirate radio does an acoustic Sunday morning show in honor of God. It's like going to church which I'm actually planning on doing in a little while. It's the third anniversary of Bar Church and we haven't been in a while. I told Sarah that I want to go.

"Wake me up," she told me last night.

As the sun beams warmth on me on this glorious day that the Lord as has made, I'm troubled by one thing.

Exactly how shall I wake her up?

I swear the Palm Tree with the oyster face, coconut bra and grass skirt just winked at me.

I wink back.

Later y'all.

WTF?

Goddess is entertaining three little girls in the back yard. They are taking turns throwing her a tennis ball and she is running after it and bringing it back to them.

In their pajamas, they are all screaming "GO GODDESS! GO GODDESS! GO GODDESS!"

Winston, the little gay dog, cannot stand not being the center of attention so he runs out and growls at Goddess, who is a dope smoking pacifist. She lays down, looking up at me sitting on the beloved back deck with her soft golden eyes.

Long ago, we learned to communicate without speaking.

She is saying to me, "WTF?"

Last night, eight six year old girls spent the night.

I drank heavily.

One of the girls just stepped in dog poop and is demanding to know why I don't clean it up.

Staring at her, I sip my screwdriver as she places the paper towel full of dog shit on the table I'm sitting at as I write.

It's a bit chilly so I'm curious as to why they're out here with me. Maddie, who is eleven, is drowning out the girls by blasting reruns of GLEE on the television. The three little girls who are with me are apparently not fans of GLEE.

All this little episode of domestic bliss needs is my next door neighbor, the Cat Lady, to stumble outside in her pink bath robe and the blue towel on her head looking like Marge Simpson on meth, screeching, "HERE KITTY, KITTY, KITTY!"

Wait.

I spoke too soon.

Now two of the girls are chasing Winston, the gay little dog, who is scared shitless.

Looking at me with his evil dark eyes I know what he's thinking ... "WTF?"

Sipping my screwdriver and praying more than I've ever prayed in my life ... along with Goddess and Winston, the little gay dog,  ... we're all asking God the same thing at the same time.

WTF?

IT'S BAAACCCKKK! (Homelessness in Savannah)

Homelessness is big business in Savannah again. The front page headline in the Savannah Morning News reads "Homeless concerns aired: Mayor, council hear complaints about public urination, demands for money, sleeping in Squares."

Just a decade ago, The Atlanta Constitution lauded Savannah's  groundbreaking pioneering work reducing the number of homeless people. We were the first to have an anti-begging policy on River Street. We targeted the squares first redirecting people to where they could get treatment rather than treating themselves. We created the Chatham-Savannah Authority for the Homeless to oversee a seamless utilization of each agencies attack on homelessness. We went to war with the problem.

The results were staggering. From 1992 through 2002 the number of people annually experiencing homelessness dropped from almost 5,000 to less than 3,000.

Those that remained were sheltered, fed, treated for addiction and mental illness and enrolled in work therapy programs. The goal was to get them straight and get them jobs! Then they could buy their way out of homelessness which is the way the world works.

The world flocked to our city to study, emulate and duplicate our approaches. We won every award their is and received international coverage because of this approach.

We even tore down the barriers between homelessness and health care achieving an effective, compassionate and cost-effective treatment program. Homeless people stopped filling hospital emergency rooms, thereby driving up health care costs for the rest of us, by getting them well so we could get them to work.

It's not rocket science!

Since then, those working (and I use the term loosely) to react to homelessness use the increased number of homeless people to demand more public resources. "We need more to help more," is their mantra.

For the past few years I've sat by and sadly watched the deterioration of the world's best solution to homelessness. While always under appreciated, the city's war on homelessness was the most effective in the world.

"You never know what you've got till it's gone," sang Joni Mitchell.

That's true. The united war is gone.

Homelessness is back in a big way.