Rising to the Occasion

Good Evening, Lovelies! I'm fresh from volunteering (hanging out is more like it; the kids with ASD just seem like kids to me), listening to music, enjoying the blessedly cool breezes, breathing easily for two seconds on a very hectic day! It seriously feels to me like I've been running after people all day long. Some of that I put on myself, grant you, by forcing myself up and into the shower and out the door in about half the time it usually takes--'cause I overslept. But then on the way to my first thing, the heel of my shoe sheered clean off:) As if it had just said "to hell with this, I'm done!" As I was going uphill, no less:( So needless to say, I staggered back home and by then, I had already missed most of the event anyway. It was only two hours long. So I counted my losses and stayed in to catch my breath--momentarily. I was almost late to volunteer at an art gallery too! Though miraculously the coordinator (who I know from church) and I kept bumping into each other anyway, I was still about 10 minutes or so late to THAT, and couldn't enjoy it as I would have had I been there from the beginning. But I learned something that absolutely FLOORED me. Did you know that the woman who designed the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. at the age of 22, Maya Lin, ALSO designed the beautiful circular park in tiny little downtown Grand Rapids?! Knocked my socks off. And gave me enormous respect for her, and for my home. And about the park--it's circular, which I've learned over a lifetime fascination with the Asian culture is a sacred shape. To be fair, they revere all shapes. But the circle in particular is also how they perceive time. So when I walk through the park, or cut across it to reach the accessible exit/entry point OF the gradated circles--I'm actually experiencing time in a way that most Westerners don't:) I find that endlessly fascinating. And I mention Lin's beautiful amphitheater-like park because I also admire the careful attention to allowing people of all abilities to enjoy it. It's circular, as I mentioned, with steps rising from ground level as you go around into almost bench-level seating. I've been to events there before where I grumbled because I thought it was very IN-accessible, but actually I was quite wrong. Anybody can get into the seating area with a mobility aid, as long as they enter through the ground level! And by contrast, the able-bodied can "pop a squat" on one of the benches anywhere along the circle, though I would imagine the higher levels would be most comfortable for them. Of course I couldn't say for sure, not being entirely able-bodied! But the clean, graceful, gradual rise of the seats allows for a lot of freedom of movement to find your fit:)