Saturday, June 28, 2008

A Funny thing Happened on the Way to ...

General Assembly.

Well, not really, but it seemed like a good title. *chuckle*

A chapter in my life ended this week. I attended my last General Assembly as a member of the General Assembly Committee on Representation. Well, at least, this time around. While it's always possible that I may serve on the committee again, it won't be for some time. *sigh*

Much has happened since I attended my first COR meeting about 8 years ago. The committee has grown, and so have I. And my work on the committee has been instrumental in my own personal growth.

Funny thing, that. I wouldn't have particularly considered myself a rabble-rouser prior to this. A minor agitator from time to time, but not a rabble-rouser. However, there was something about this committee when I got on it that wouldn't let me stop poking at the assumptions being made and the opportunities for an impact on our denomination that slipped by.

For those who aren't up on their Presbyterianism, the Committee on Representation was established as a part of the Articles of Agreement, which led to Reunion in 1983 of the United Presbyterian Church in the USA (northern stream) and Presbyterian Church in the US (southern stream). There was great fear that leadership in the denomination would revert to the majority culture, since the selection of leaders would come only from geographic bodies, not from groups that were made up of minorities. There was a fear that racial/ethnic leadership would be lost, leadership which was just beginning to come into being at the time. Thus, the Committee on Representation came into being - an accountability group to report on how well the leadership of the denomination reflects the makeup of our members.

When I attended my first meeting, I kept seeing situations that cried out for comment being left behind on the floor. Mind you, it wasn't members of the majority culture letting these things slide. Those of the racial/ethnic minorities kept saying, "no, we'd better not". In the years since reunion, this committee, which could have had a major impact on the makeup of Presbyterian leadership, had sidelined itself into obscurity.

Three or four of us got together and griped and groused and complained our way into the committee beginning to take positions on issues of importance. All that hard work may have finally paid off.

This year, our denomination was presented with a new Form of Government (part of our denomination's "operating manual") for review, comment, and, perhaps, acceptance. There is much that is positive in the proposal; however, while it didn't eliminate a call to diversity and inclusiveness, it did eliminate the Committee on Representation. To be fair, it also eliminated every other committee that is currently required by our denomination. It didn't say that the varying levels of the church couldn't have them. It just didn't require them.

When I first got on the Committee on Representation (COR), we probably wouldn't have said "Boo!" and the committee would have quietly faded out of existence. Not now. When we got the first edition of the changes, we made a case for continuing the COR to the Task Force assigned the duty of revising the document. In response, the language was changed to "may establish a mechanism for ensuring diversity and inclusiveness". (that's the gist of it, I don't have it in front of me)

Although it was a concession, we didn't stop there. You have to understand that "may" and "shall" are super-significant words when it comes to polity. So, when the final version went to the General Assembly Commissioners for their study and, ultimately, their vote, we drafted an "advise and counsel" statement encouraging the commissioners to amend the final version to include COR's. In all the years I've served on the committee, this is the first time we've ever taken such a bold step on any issue! [Yes, in the past, the COR has taken a solid stance on some issues, but they are few and far between ... and, up to this point, it hadn't happened once in my 8 years on the committee.]

At the General Assembly, I had the opportunity to speak on behalf of the COR before the committee which would make a recommendation of what would happen to the revision when it was presented to the entire General Assembly. The final outcome was that the whole document was referred for study and tweaking for two years, with a comment made that the concerns of the COR be addressed in the revisions. YAY!!

And, you know what? Eight years ago, I was still a fairly shy person, having to build up my courage just to drop one of those 'tweak of the nose' comments into the conversation on any issue. Now, I'm able to jump into the fray and state my position with the best of them! OK - I still get shy when it comes to large groups, but eight years ago, I wouldn't have been caught dead speaking at a General Assembly, for any reason! "You've come a long way, baby!" YAY!!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

On Father's Day

My dad was a quiet, tall man. A mathematician. A scientist. Hugs and "I love you" were not part of his parenting vocabulary. He did the best he could with the tools his parents gave him. Took me a very long time to figure that out.

The family story is that, after dad's graduation from college, I followed him around like a lost puppy once Mom and I caught up with him when he moved to Texas before us. What I do remember is "helping" Dad with his experiments as he tried to create a way to scavenge clean water from the air around us. The apparatus was hooked to a vacuum cleaner and never quite worked as he hoped, but I was a part of it. I never learned until after he died that he had several patents. NASA owns them, but they are in his name.

Dad was an atrocious punster. He'd get a twinkle in his eye when he caught someone using a phrase that he could turn into a real stinker. Only once in my entire life did I ever get him back. At a family Thanksgiving dinner, he let off one that absolutely reeked. I turned to my aunt and, doing a takeoff on an old Prell commercial, said "You'll just have to excuse him. He just washed his brain and can't do a thing with it." In time, I learned that the only way to hold my own with him was to staunchly remain silent, pretending I already had the answer, when he snuck up to a zinger. It frustrated the heck out of him! And I usually found out where he was going anyway, because there was generally one sucker in the room who'd have to ask Who? or What? or Why?

Our entire family roller skated competitively. Not roller derby, but like the artistic ice skating competitions. Dad was a hard taskmaster and expected us to work to improve. Yet my fondest memories are of the times he skated with me as his dance partner, and when we did the 14-Step with him doing the women's steps and me doing the men's. What fun!

I was well into adulthood before I realized that "What needs to be fixed?" and "I've noticed 'x', let me get my tool box." actually meant "I love you." When I was a child, I desperately wanted to learn to play the piano. Dad, a fine craftsman, was building a bookcase/desk/cabinet unit into the family room wall. He left a piano-sized space in it for a time when we might get a piano. Later on, when we did, it was just precisely the right size for a small upright. He almost got skunked on it, though, because most pianos at the time were about 1 inch taller than the space he'd left.

On the day that my world went to hell in a hand-basket, Dad was the one who said, "We'll be there as soon as we can. Will you be all right 'til we get there?" The time I left Houston for Austin and forgot my purse, Dad decided that they ought to drive it all the way to Austin instead of sending it via UPS. No cell phones in those days!

In the year before he died, Dad was afraid that he soon might not be able to say some of the things he wanted to. So he wrote me a letter, which I keep in my fireproof safebox. It is very precious to me.

So, on this Father's Day, I want to say, "I love you, Dad, and miss you very much." I'm pretty sure he heard that.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Can't Win for Losing, Part 2

Well, the insurance adjustor just finished his thing and .... TADA! Even at the top limit on the numbers, I come out $65 less than my deductible in repairs. Somehow that's not a total surprise. Frustrating, though. Ahhhhh, well! It could be MUCH worse.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Can't Win for Losing

What a wonderful day! (*she said sarcastically*)

This morning about 10am a nasty chunk of a storm came through. It hadn't started raining and wasn't particularly windy, but all of the sudden there was a huge KA-BOOM! It was mighty close and the critter decided that it was worthy of getting worried about. At least, she didn't try to sit on my head!

As I left the house for an appointment, I happened to look up and see this:



After the appointment, I came back home and got ready to go to the office. Just as I was getting ready to go out the door to my car, I hear another KA-BOOM! Nope. Not lightning. The top of the tree landed on my garage and driveway.

The good news is that my son's car was not in the driveway or it would have been smushed. Another good thing is that my car was in the garage, so it wasn't damaged, even though I can't get out of the garage until someone cuts the huge limb into little pieces and hauls them out of the way. The other good thing is that I didn't really have to go anywhere this afternoon.

It was the neighbor's tree, but, since there wasn't any negligence, guess who gets to pay for fixing things. Ayup! Right on the first try.

Just what I needed right now. Another deductible to come out of too shallow pockets.

Not only that, but I ended up spending waaaay too much time trying to convince Time-Warner Cable that the too close lightning strike did a number on my internet connection. From their end, things were working just fine. From my end, I couldn't get either of my computers to actually speak to the internet. "Try this." "I did that already." "Let's try this." "I did that already." "Let's try one more thing." "I DID that already." After we went round and round, I bailed and talked to my computer guru friend and got enough information to be able to speak intelligently and affirmatively that the problem was my modem and I wanted to swap for a working one.

When my son got home, we made a trip to the local office and I'm online!

Someone just suggested that I oughta get my house exorcised. I was actually planning to have a house blessing once the last vestiges of hurricane damage were repaired. Guess I waited too long!

Friday, June 06, 2008

Under Pressure

Hurricane season 2008 has arrived!

How do I know that? Well, the annual ritual has begun. Promptly on June 1st, the Chronicle Hurricane Guide arrived with the newspaper. The Beaumont Enterprise neglected to follow suit, which I think is a big mistake. The Houston paper cannot adequately cover things like SE Texas evacuation routes and local resources. Plus not everyone currently living along the coast has ever lived near a coast nor knows what's involved in preparing for the potential hurricane. Besides, everyone needs to have a brand-new, pristine, official Hurricane Tracking Chart, don't they?

The Enterprise hasn't totally ignored hurricane season, since they've had articles about hurricane season beginning and Her Horribleness' affect on insurance and (one day later than the Chronicle) an article on how building codes in Texas haven't been modified to address updated innovations that might make a home more secure the next time a hurricane strikes the state. They've even had one of their weekly Lifestyles columnists do a piece on whether he'd stay in town or go the next time a hurricane headed this direction. (He'd GO!! Not quite so much because of the storm itself, although that would be a factor, as because of the discomfort in the aftermath. But still, at least it was an article advocating evacuation.)

Anyway, back to how I know it's hurricane season.

The Weather Channel has begun its "Tropical Update" at "ten 'til" each hour, with tips on preparation, lists of hurricane names, explanations of what the science currently knows about hurricanes, possible patterns for this time of year, and so on and so on. Actually I believe they do a fairly good job of providing pre-hurricane information and tracking updates from the moment there's an iffy area lurking out there. Sure, they get a bit hysterical when something begins to head to land. But then, if you're broadcasting 24-hours a day about the weather, sometimes you just have to find something, anything, to keep you (the weathercaster) awake.

But do you want to know how I really know it's hurricane season?

It's hurricane season because I've started watching the barometric pressure again. That's right! Six months out of the year I apparently don't even see the barometric pressure listed in the "Current Conditions" of "Local on the 8's". But once, June 1st rolls around, I'm suddenly aware of that number and whether it has an S or up/down arrow next to it.

Guess you could say that hurricane season is enough to put one under pressure.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Eep!

A momentary chuckle: It's evening. It's dark. The dog decides she really needs to go out. I head to the curtained sliding glass door, unlock it without pulling the curtain back very far. PLOP! hmmmmmm... Plop? Dog actually jumps backward. I think to myself, "Snakes don't go "plop", so what is it?" There on my side of the door is a nice, plump frog. I gently encourage the frog to return to its favored environment, which it politely did. Do you think the dog would go out after that? No Way! Silly dog.