It is the end of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere

I started writing yesterday and for reasons I don't recall, I was writing about swimming.  Hence the photos below.

What actually got me started was thinking about when and why I joined the Universal Unitarian (UU) Church of Sterling, Virginia.  I actually joined the UU church in Fairfax in 1998.  Nick and I had separated and I felt adrift.  The State Department was like home for me. I had been going there ever since I was a little kid, when my dad was in the Foreign Service.

Nick and I reconciled, and eventually I  stopped attending that congregation.  Then the pandemic hit and nobody went anywhere for a while- including church.

We (Nick and I) did attend a different congregation a few years ago, but at the time I was fairly handicapped by my knees and it was not a very accessible church.  But I digress.

Ever since Donald Trump became president for a second time, life has been stressful, annoying, frightening and altogether a big scary deal.  It feels like every day another liberty is at risk.  The rule of law feels like it is slipping away.  

And yet, our lives go on.  We get up.  have coffee.  feed the dog and let him go out to go to the bathroom (well, he doesn't ave a "bathroom" but he relieves himself)

Many of the people in my life, both here in the States and abroad express their fears and concerns about what is happening in America and to America.

Hate is such a strong word and a strong feeling.  But I find myself experiencing it.  I worry.  I fantasize about making things change somehow.   And yet, I have this glimmer of hope.  This love for what the America I love and imagine can be and will be again.  (fingers crossed).

And so, I joined the UU church again.  I knew that I would find like minded, sympathetic and dare I say, liberal people as I consider myself to be.

 This picture was taken by my sister when I "signed the book" the official way one joins a UU church.

As in 1998, when I first attended a UU church, I now feel like I have a church home.   

In April of this year, when I was in Maine, I attended the Rockland UU church and loved it! 

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Mission:

Seek, Love, and Serve Boldly

Covenant:

This congregation is dedicated to the proposition that behind all our differences and beneath all our diversities, there is a unity that binds us together and makes us one in spite of time and death and the space between the stars.   ~  David Baumbaugh

Vision:

We envision UUCS as…

• A Faith Community known throughout Loudoun County Virginia and beyond as an inclusive and enduring refuge for diversity in all its forms.
• A flagship congregation, being the change we wish to see in the world, nurturing all souls for courageous and transformative ministry.
• An evolving community breaking barriers to serve an increasing population within and beyond our walls.

 

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When I was a kid, ages 7 to at least 15, I used to spend most of my summer days at the pool.  I loved swimming.   My mom's rule was if it got below 65° outside I was not allowed to swim.  Of course, Washington summers rarely got that cool.  

I was a Camp Fire Girl and my Indian (Native American) name translated "fish out of water". 

 Nick and I went to Bali for our R&R when we were living in Bangkok.  This was Sanur Beach, Bali 1977

 

 

 Here I am a a hotel pool in Portland, Oregon July 2019 when we went  to Oregon for Morgan and Kim's wedding.  

 Post Script:

I am used to having a few people read my blog- maybe up to 35 or so.  But lately I have noticed hundreds of "views".   What the heck?