Expanding Mind

Yesterday was a red letter day. Went across the street to the Sunshine Senior Center to 'Country Classics' and sang. Sang two 'smile' song, 'Smile though your heart is breaking' and 'When you're smiling'. Most of those country songs are about 'Your

cheating Heart' and “When the role is called up yonder' so I try to cheer them up. This time I felt accepted but I also got a little negativity. The lady in charge is evidently having an affair with one of the men who sings. He has a glorious bass voice and I said something to both of them yesterday and she replied...”This is my man and you're not woman enough to take him” No that isn't the name of another song. She actually said that. I giggled. I don't know what brought this on...just because I said I thought he was cute but, good heavens! Living in India for so long I have been away from all this.

After it was over everyone came up to tell me how much they enjoyed my singing. You know, I'm 77 years old and this is the first time IN MY LIFE I've ever sung alone in public. Swami's leela and it's kind of fun. There's also a class on Drama on Mondays which I'll look into. After all I majored in Theater one year and did two seasons of summer stock so I think I'm just tying up some loose ends before I take the final voyage. My mother lived until she was 99 so it could be a long time before that voyage pushes off even though god knows I've prayed for the boat to come.

There is more good news too. Our friend Carol said that she might come for Christmas. You know, I was looking at the map yesterday and this apartment building is really amazing. It's right in the middle of downtown St. Pete within walking distance of three or four museums, two or three theaters, a movie imax and two five stars. I've been too afraid to even go out across the street to the Senior Center for about a year now and so I haven't actually seen these places. Christine took me to the movies once to see, 'Help' and just the other day I took my first bus ride oh and I walked down to the bay the other day all by myself but...I am in the center of the civic center.

So this morning I couldn't meditate because I could almost FEEL my brain expanding. OK so here goes. I could open an office for 'Community Out reach for Seniors' across the street at the Center. I hesitate to suggest anything because I was on a high last year around Christmas and went over to volunteer. Saw the social worker in charge of the 'Office on Aging' and told her I'd been a social worker in California and offered to assist in some small way maybe like keeping tract of files or something. She looked me in the eye and said, 'There is nothing you can do for me and there is nothing I can do for you' I'll never forget that but sometimes my desire to 'love all serve all' gets the better of me. I thought of lots of projects this morning when I couldn't meditate. For one thing there is a Merriot Hotel a half a block away which has a swimming pool. It's getting cooler now but maybe in the summer seniors from this building could swim there. Also I was thinking about surplus food. In India there are groups which collect surplus...uneaten...food from the five stars to give to the hungry. I was thinking that there must be surplus food at these five stars and maybe we seniors could be invited to go there for lunch about one when the kitchen was still open Lots of kind of wild ideas.