Last night I went to summer camp!

Well, not exactly, but it sure felt like it!

Back in the early-mid ’70’s when I was actually doing the summer camp thing, we had real campfires, and huge trees and Florida bobcats wandering down the road late at night.

We also had helicopter sized mosquitoes and rampant poison ivy.

And, with the exception of one miraculous summer, really, really bad food.

A lot of the things that are important to me now grew out of those weeks, surrounded by open minded women and all the words to the music, which my mom referred to as weird hippy stuff, that I still love.

We took care of our environment the best we could. We learned how the plants and animals and people were related and meant to live in harmony. One summer, we swam in a spring with Manatees!

Phoebe was our stand-in Manatee for last night.

Zoom was our campfire.

We had awesome musicians with un-electric guitars singing of a better world.

And, we had me, painting. Frankly, I was terrified. Until we started. And then the camp memories kicked in and I knew where I was and why I was there.

You see, the real artists for last night were a crowd of people writing postcards. Postcards to encourage U.S. Senators to support the For the People Act associated with the legacy of Congressman John Lewis.

And, as I tried to paint John Lewis, and adapt to the time frame, despite the fact that, no matter how important the project, paint still needs to dry, the postcards were stacking up. Postcards for a better, kinder, more just world.

The photo, above, is just a glimpse of my painting, which still has more than a bit to go.

People made of prayer dots, sheltering in the shadow of John Lewis’s care and vision.

I’ll post more when I’m closer to done.

For now, please hear me say that, whoever you are, you’re included in those prayer dot people. And, if you listen closely, you’ll hear lots more of us singing and writing and holding a red thread that connects you and me and all of us.

ps… just in case you want to know more, to sing along or help out, check www.envoysforhumanity.org