I love this portrait of Becca and Michael, they came to our Open House this weekend, theirs is a story of love and bravery and commitment.
Each was in a bad place before they met online and took a chance on one another. Now, they are in a good place. Michael is recovering from PTSD, Becca will soon start a new career pet-sitting in Maryland and doing her work as a Reiki Master.
It paid off. They are happy married and deeply committed t supporting each other. I have great admiration for people who work hard to get from a bad place to a good place.
These two are heroes to me. So many people whine and complain about their hard lives, few people work to change their lives. Becca and Micheal did and are living lives of purpose and connection.
I guess this is really what the Open Houses are all about – fostering a community of people who care about more than money.
They bravely seek out love, and do the hard work of self-awareness and connection. This could be our Open House poster, for sure. Proud to know them, and very happy to see them at our Open House.
That is, after all, what the Open House is all about.
One of the nice things about the Open Houses in this brave new world is that people tend to write as soon as they get home. This was the first message I got, it was from Mary Ann Clark and she captured the feeling of the Open House Saturday and Sunday better than I did, I think. So did Heidi and her daughter Ashley.
“Jon, My good friend Betsy and I were at the Open House yesterday. We drove over 3 hrs to get there, because we both have wanted to come for years. We were surprised at the lower number of people, but we LOVED IT! It was nice not to be crowded out by too many bodies, especially when we were watching the sheep shearing. We were behind people when we first got there, but they moved aside, so we could get closer, it was the same spirit of generosity we found ALL day! And to me it really made the poetry reading that much more intimate! Carol Gulley moved me to tears with her butterfly and crow poems, and not only by her words, but because I had followed her journey with Ed’s illness on her blog and yours, and now here she was standing in her truth, reading poems after her husband has only been dead since August. I truly believe that the people that WANTED to be there, were… I am also a member of the Army of Good, and although I didn’t get to talk to you in person, well, I did make the comment to you that I thought Bud was adapting really well, that is my hand on his cheek in the photo you took, and my friend Betsy is in the red coat, for an outsider coming for the first time, to me the LOVE WAS palpable, and the day was PERFECT!” – Mary Ann Clark.
I loved that report and I remember Mary Ann well. Thanks for your view of the day, Mary Ann, it made it very worthwhile for me, and it is great to see the Open House through your eyes..
Saturday, Heidi and her daughter Ashley arrived just after the last sheepherding demo, they came from Boston. I took the dogs out again for them, and we went into the pasture to meet the donkeys – more carrots for them.
Heidi is a photographer and we talked about photography for awhile, we talked about lenses and classes. I told her I have little use for photography classes, they too often emphasize the technical side of photography, I prefer the emotional side.
Her daughter Ashley was thrilled to meet the donkeys and Heidi was wowed by Red.
This is really the first Open House where I had time to talk to people and their kids. I valued it very much.
We were lucky to have Maria’s Belly Dancing Group, the Sisters Of The Shawl, come to dance, even in the rain.
This dancing is beautiful and inspiring, it is not done for men and their amusement, it is done to give women their voice and identity. I can’t wait to see Maria dance sometime in the coming year.
Come and see. Odds are, it is not what you expected.
Bud loved the attention he got at the Open House, and he sure got a workout running around with Red and the sheep. When the Belly Dancers game, Bud was fascinated by a baby, the first he has ever seen to our knowledge.
When I met Michael a few years ago at an Open House, he found it difficult to talk to me, he most stayed in his room or in his car. Since then, he got married to Becca, a good friend of mine, and he has worked long and hard and painfully to deal with his PTSD and face the world.
I hadn’t seen him in a awhile, he came to our Open House and we had dinner with him Saturday night. I was shocked at how much progress he has made, how comfortable and funny and interesting he is.
He is a brave warrior for sure, off and on the battlefield. I said I was struggling with issues relating to friendship lately, and he said he would be happy to be friend. I am happy to be his friend. We shook on it.
And I loved taking his portrait in the rain, I told him he looked like a Druid in Star Wars with the hood. He is a special human being, it is nice to be a friend. We had so much more in common than either of us imagined.
WAS palpable, and the day was PERFECT!” – Mary Ann Clark.
