I'm often asked, "How are you doing?" The answer just now is that I feel exhausted. I'm actively grieving, attempting to resume work, moving and getting the 62 Haywood Street ready for market next Wednesday, April 25, 2012. So at the moment I feel spent and overwhelmed. Fortunately, I've had lots of help and offers for more.
Rahima and I used this beautiful house very well, every room. Now it is time to move on.
I'll try to write more tomorrow.
~Andy
A memory of 62 Haywood Street from Loren Jenks...
ReplyDelete"In a recent January when the pavements were slick with ice, there was a gathering of clans at 62 Haywood Street in Greenfield for Andy's birthday party. Rahima had planned a high-spirited evening of entertainment drawn from the talents of those attending, which included Quakers, Amandla chorus members, Contra dancers, family members and friends from the commingled communities that Andy and Rahima had brought to their relationship. Boots were piling up the foyer and people were mingling in their sock feet. At Rahima's request, snacks were to be "healthy," so people did their best. The box of nuts and the vat of popcorn were popular, as were the healthy desserts, including the carrot cake that had been ordered for the occasion. Someone had brought a bag of avocados, which remained unopened. The Amandla people sang a version of "Happy Birthday" that must have been composed recently by Mozart.
During the entertainment portion of the evening, everyone found perches as musicians and story tellers claimed the stage under the arched entrance to the living room. Rahima had downloaded scripts for a couple of short skits that she asked people to work up. When a couple of cast members got an urgent call and had to leave, she recruited substitutes on the spot and stepped in herself for a pivotal role as the proprietor of a shop in a Middle Eastern country who thinks she is trying to sell a souvenir to a distracted American tourist while the shopper's interpreter has match-making on his mind. Andy's contribution was a skit from "Gilligan's Island," the 1970s television show that apparently was a childhood favorite. When I arrived, Andy asked me to portray the Captain and handed me a dog-eared script. It came off charmingly as something more or less made up on the spot, which it was -- not much different from the original TV version.
In short, it was a wonderful evening, snags and all. The lesson, in case we need one, is that those who work hard to enrich the lives of others find blessings."