Manny and the girls should be home soon from their orienteering session, which occurred across the bay this morning. I went to church on my bike, which does seem like the only truly appropriate way to arrive at a UU Fellowship, barring a long, circuitous walk involving the sewing of native plants all along the route.
Today was the water gathering ceremony, which is one of my favorite times of the UU year. Everyone speaks quickly into the microphone and tells us where he or she went during the year, and pours the water from that trip into a large bowl, where it is mixed with the stories of last year and years past.
I leapt to my feet during the joys and sorrows and told everyone about Badger and Grace's websites, about their Good Deeds and on-the-ground dedication to helping in the crisis. Inadvertently, of course, this outed our links to the good friend who is linked to both of us and who attends that fellowship, as well. Oh dear. I could feel a spike in the latent level of her stress even as I told everyone to check out badgerbag.
Thing is, girlfriend, you don't say anything bad about the UUs on your site. And if you did, they wouldn't understand it anyway. Seriously. Our Outed-ness as Real People instead of mere web presences continues apace.
I wanted to tell you some of the stories my friends were telling last night at the gathering of Big Noggin (Eliz's school, a "gifted magnet") mothers, at the Estrogen Fest. Dang! Those women can spin a good story. One particular thread was the "what happened to me on my honeymoon" storyline. Oh my god! One woman, Brinda, went to Italy, where her moneybelt, passport, plane tickets were all stolen while they stood in line at a bank. At a BANK. When they stepped outside and realized what had happened, that the stuff was truly gone, by coincidence a crowd of townspeople were chasing another thief, who had stolen a French woman's bag. Picture Brinda and her new husband, freaking out because all their stuff was gone, when suddenly a crowd of Italians sweeps by yelling "THIEF! THIEF!" and, Brinda said, her husband ran off after them in the excitement, leaving her and the French woman to talk about what they'd lost.
Her telling of it was hilarious.
Another honeymoon story: the young bride whose husband has booked the stay at the spa and hot springs months in advance. She has been telling people, yeah! We're going to Harper's Spa!
They arrive at the spa, and on the door is a sign. "Clothing Optional in Office."
You can imagine! Everyone behind the counter is naked. It's a nudist colony! And her husband is (wait for it...) a NUDIST TOO!
I can't wait to meet that last guy. They're still quite happily married, though she was quite livid at the honeymoon experience.
This very much trumped my own "Back Spasm at Niagara Falls" experience.
Waaah, I missed the water ceremony at our Sacto. UU yesterday. Bunnylou was sick, and I was the Designated Parent. I hear they had an interpretive dance, acting out large bodies of water! Which sounds so stereotypical UU, but my husband says it was lovely anyway. /pout
Posted by: pam | September 12, 2005 at 06:46 AM