Sarasota Class 59 - Reflections

Classmates...the past is receding from our visual memories and the future is still out of focus...I thought about you...about us...while walking after lunch today...wondering if you have written your thoughts down...trying to capture the past before it's forgotten...trying to look into the future before it comes...trying to understand your place in time and space.

With the talent that seems to be surfacing as we move toward October, I'm wondering if any of you have written prose or poems in reaction to your life experiences...your journey...that you will share with us. Vicki (Cristiani) has published her story and I'm aware that Sue (Maxwell) is writing a story about her grandmothers ancestors, and along with the miracle of discovering her ancestors came a beautiful spiritual experience.

Cancer patients have taught me to live in the NOW...to be aware of my surroundings...the wind, the sun, the sky, flowers, trees and especially people. In the book "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", Richard Bach reminds us how important it is to live our dreams...NOW!

I'm thinking your classmates would love to read some of your reflections...life experiences...short stories, about your dreams, etc. Will you share with us?

Hi everyone...I want to share some reflections...poems...reactions...with you that have been written over a period of years. This will be an extension of an earlier email relating to things I have written since leaving Sarasota in 1959.

"Reflections" is a work in progress...I will continue to make changes and to add to this collection as time goes by. Some of you may have some suggestions or changes to offer...don't hold back.

As before, I'm hoping this will inspirit those of you "out there" who have written down their thoughts in prose or as poems to share those life expressions with the others in our class. If you email your prose/poems to the class, please let me know and then I won't repeat what you send. If you only send them to me, then I'll forward them to the class email list.

I do believe our heritage is our bond...that since we all came from the same place we have a thin thread that runs through our lives that keeps us connected. We're like the birds of winter...our instincts tell us to return home...Oct. 2nd we'll return home.

Linda and I have a long road in front of us...we're painting in four hospitals in Ireland from May 15-28 and then South Korea June 11-20...and then we stop in San Diego on our way back to the States to paint with 1,000 people on June 25th and then finally to Washington DC to complete the Great American PaintFest that started in Baghdad by Gen. Ray Odierno and his command painting six canvases featuring the American Eagle...those six canvases will be added to 34 we will paint in DC on July 4th.