Time: 1733

Opening Impressions:

1. Today’s date is 1/11/11, and those who make wishes at 11:11 a.m. were absolutely delirious with hope that their wishes would most certainly come true today. I missed it, unfortunately, as I was in the middle of class.

2. Schools closed early one hour today so that students’ lives would not be in jeopardy driving home in the snowstorm. As of 4:15 p.m., when most kids would have been home or en route if schools closed at the normal time, there was no snow on the ground. I understand playing it safe at times, but nobody was predicting the storm would even begin until after 4 p.m. For those of you not from Baltimore, please understand: this is just the way that it is.

3. I can’t get this out of my head: the need to do something more with my words, with Lines of Love, with Ravenwater, with Maryland Voices. I keep thinking about Dr. Egon Spengler, one of the three esteemed Ghostbusters, suggesting to his buddies that they cross the streams from their proton packs to bolster their energies.

The Point:

This is how I work. I need time for ideas to percolate once they’ve been born. It’s hard for me to develop an idea and run with it immediately with any confidence. I know my process, the necessary period of refinement until the ideas have evolved into something more meaningful, more purposeful for me as well as for others. This is no different.

I’m kicking around a few ideas, and I’m pretty certain that I am going to reserve my Friday posts for spotlighting ordinary individuals who are doing some pretty extraordinary things. That’s a start. And I need to set some time aside to finish what last year’s editors started with Volume 8 of Maryland Voices. Lines of Love is more active than ever, but Ravenwater is lying a little dormant these days, waiting for me to breathe a little life into the press.

So much for the individual reports and updates. Together, they’re doing nothing.

I guess that’s where I am right now in my thinking. What can I do to marry these three loves and provide a greater service to my community?

I think I’ll share some refined ideas with all of you tomorrow. The point is this: the pot is plugged in, and we’re percolating, baby. We’re percolating. 🙂

Three Other Things That Made My Day:

1. Braeden, my 6-year-old son, lost his first tooth today. A rite of passage, I believe.

2. Apple announced this morning that the iPhone will now be available through Verizon.

3. Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman from Tucson, AZ who was shot in the head over the weekend, is now breathing on her own.

Journeying Words:

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.” John Quincy Adams