You know how, every now and then, there’s a day that feels like you need all of you – all the many parts of you – working together to pull it off?

Saturday was kind of like that. Including the little hints around the edges that maybe, just maybe, I needed a few more parts of me than have become fully conscious yet.

It started with more than the optimal amount of joint and muscle pain. That led to half a tube of Arnica gel and some time in the magic chair with all the angles just so. Predictably, I fell asleep, with Leonard Cohen serenading me from YouTube.

I woke suddenly to the raucous sounds of horns honking and cars racing down the (in)famous, big road behind our house. I will admit to being more than a bit cranky about the whole thing. And then I figured it out.

Saturday was the designated National John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Day of Action. And I live on the edge of the late Congressman’s district. In Atlanta. And the noise was honoring in action.

So, crankiness aside long enough to notice that I didn’t hurt quite so much as before, I decided to work some more on the painting I’m doing that includes Congressman Lewis’s face.

It’s an adventure. I’ve painted LOTS of faces but this is the first one I’ve attempted that is supposed to look like somebody recognizable. You know, not imaginary!

Then it was time for another of my teachers… Sam Bennett. A get together for some integration after last week’s journey into what the expert refers to as Peaceful Pricing.

I, predictably, was integrating several things at once.

For now, there are people to add to my painting with John Lewis. (It’s important to note that he’s not done yet… and neither am I!)

And a moment to wish Bill a very happy anniversary tomorrow! (We’re going to wait just a bit longer before venturing out to the Iberian Pig. Which, as I think of it, really isn’t too far from everything else going on in this post!)

ps… whoever you are and however this day feels for you, you are loved.

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