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Greetings from Rev. Gail Tapscott

Both of my summer trips involved seeing and visiting friends that go way back in my life. In addition to the fun of catching up on the new events and changes in our lives, I look forward to these visits as learning experiences. I have jokingly said to a couple of friends that visiting with them should really be counted as study leave days.

I visited another friend who is very literary and full of suggestions for me to do a service on Haiku and other poetry. Laquita and her husband Geoffrey travel the world. They just came back from traveling The Silk Road and brought back all sorts of lovely embroidery from the various countries ending in “stan”. Geoffrey is a retired physicist and wants me to read up on the ongoing dialogue among scientists on how atheists should relate to religious people. My political friend Deb has friends who work for USA Today, the Washington Post and for Hillary Clinton. I love to get insider gossip on the Washington power base. Some of my friends who live out in Maryland seem to live in a totally different world from D.C. They are more likely to be into cooking gourmet food in their newly renovated kitchens and sitting on their lovely decks and sipping pina coladas and talking about their kids adventures. They watch lots of on-demand T.V. on their home entertainment centers and bike and play golf. My old boy friend Ronnie and his wife fall into this category. I love them dearly but don’t have as much in common with them as I once did. However, our youthful adventures are a bond, and they like telling incriminating stories about me to my 28-year-old nephew Scott.

In Santa Fe, I visited my friend the radio show host mentioned in last month’s column. Her house is full of books, videos and art from celebrities she has interviewed including Jane Fonda and Native American author Sherman Alexie. Ideas for sermons or book group selections were to be found all over her house. Other friends there are social activists of all stripes and a woman who worked for years organizing a union of the Los Alamos Lab workers. Another friend in Santa Fe works in the ethnic clothing section of the International Folk Art Museum. Ava uses her docent card to let me tour the folk art and Native American museums there which yield up other sermon ideas.

Without my rich assortment of friends, I could not be a minister at all. They are constant sources of stimulation and new ways of thinking. My time away from you is often spent with these folks who knew me before I was Rev. Gail, but who really made it possible for me to become Rev. Gail. I also spent time with my sister Melrose and her newly retired husband who tells me that retirement is highly underrated. Melrose is an artist and also has recently become what I call an Art Guru. She takes other artists, mainly women on retreats to the beach or mountains and leads them in reflections, observations walks and guided sketch exercises. She offers individual critiques and classes and has developed a fanatically loyal following. She is also writing a book to be called Joyous Observation.

I feel so blessed to have such fascinating friends and family and I wish for all of you to deepen your life and experience by the friends you choose and keep for the long haul.