Good afternoon, Volt et al ...
I would normally preface this post with and ot>, but TechGuerrilla pointed out at the Porch Party in no uncertain terms that he finds that ludicrous. <g> I do it as a courtesy, is all.
I just read this poignant post of yours, Tom ... and once again, sit helplessly weeping as I write these words.
I have been home two full days and nights and have done little besides pick up the newspapers in the driveway ... which I don't read anymore ... LOL! I've threatened (myself) to cancel my subscription to the rag for months now but old habits (reading hard-copy NP every morning all my life) are hard to break ...
Words absolutely fail me to describe to you what the Porch Party meant to me.
Best I can do is to say that it was the single most powerful event in my life to date. (That includes everything.)
You people have rocked my world.
I tried to articulate this to Tech and Scott Mantz my last night at the Days Inn in downtown Atlanta ... it is so rare to have such intense connection with anybody that I feel we all have with each other.
I know to the core of my being that I have met people who will be lifelong friends.
On my way back here, I stopped at a Chevron station in Meridian, MS, for a fill-up.
For some inexplicable reason, this is a sort of defining moment for me in this whole adventure in Bonnie Nuss' little life.
There was a homeless man sitting on curb next to the ice machine. He was talking to himself rather incoherently ... when I passed by, he looked at me and said, brightly and with clarity, "Hello!" And smiled broadly.
I was a little startled, but quickly responded, "Why, hello, Sir. How are you tonight?" He said, "Fine."
Went in to pay for the gas and asked the clerk about him. Asked if he had "bothered me." I assured her, no, not at all. She said that employees at the station give him and several other homeless people in the area free coffee. "That's why they come here."
At which point I burst into tears. Stood there sobbing with the clerk, who also had a tear running down her cheek. We discussed the homeless "problem." Austin has somewhere around 6,000 full-time year 'round homeless population, last time I read any statistics in the news. Mild climate attracts.
Here I was returning from a gathering of people with the common interest of money. Fundamentally.
Do we realize how wonderfully rich we all already are?
If we didn't have a goddamned dime, we would be wealthy.
Hope all of you are having a wonderful day. I am, actually. Processing what you people mean to me has me laughing and crying at the same time, as you say, Tom.
Best,
b-i-a
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