Art by Griffin

This has been a year.  Isn’t that right?  Struggle fills so many days: lost jobs, deaths of loved ones, unseen family, a pandemic,  a murder followed by civil unrest in my city of Minneapolis that destroyed my school where I work, and all that chased down by an election season that was the most negative and fear-inducing of my life.

Every time I hear a siren, I feel like my heart stops a little.

And.  Three things.

A leather notebook made its way to me at the peak of the civil unrest, even though our post office was looted and burned down.  This seemed like a miracle, and maybe a sign.  Maybe: Use this notebook to make some kind of difference.

I went to my school after the sprinklers finally turned off and it was cleared of danger.  Several of us, with masked faces came to see if there was anything to salvage.  I stood in my ‘office’ now a pile of waste, broken glass and furniture that people tried to set on fire–burned and scarred.

As I stood there in so much loss, this phrase “rubble gifts” came to mind.

Two things remained that mattered to my heart.

A waterlogged frame full of my twenty-three year old son’s kindergarten drawings was still there.  Dirty looking, buckled, but the six ‘guys’ now with another story of survival.

My red lamp that matched the four others at home.  My hope lights, I guess you’d say, the red light of possibility—bold beauty.  Here it was.  Working even.

Rubble gifts. With so many things stripped away—you can see what remains.  They might be dirty, broken, but there they are.  Yours.

Essential elements of your life.

Stories to tell, people I love, a dog companion, novels looking for their way in the world, all more visible in the dust and debris of loss.  The rubble.

I dusted off my pant legs and stood a little taller than when I entered that school, with my artwork and lamp.

Rubble can show you what matters most in all its imperfection.  In all its holiness.  Take a good look at what is around your feet.  Might be able to dust it off and give it new life.

The world on your head, invites ideas.

It invites wonder and hope.

It blows story around in interesting ways.

On this particular voting day, having voted already, I am taking a convertible ride, with the top down in November and letting a story of democracy blow over my head.

The color of this beautiful fall was a good companion, might have even saved me.  This is a recent drive from outside my car.  I wonder what you do to fuel the hope and creativity?

It is a time where the skill for idea and fact discernment and alignment has never been so important as people, even nations are trying to mislead you.

[insert outrage]

So this: put your money where your mouth is.  In other words: let’s act on our talk.

When the pandemic, civil unrest, flagrant political utterings started really ramping up—for me the first week in June as I watched my city of Minneapolis, and Minnesota Transitions Charter School where I work, get destroyed following the horrific murder of George Floyd—I understood something was being asked of me.  Of us all.  To put our money where our mouths were.  To align action with proclaimed ideas.

People online who didn’t mention the unrest in our nation, who didn’t seem to support Black Lives Matter, equity and fairness—I stopped following.  Easy to do.

And the beautiful flip side gift, was finding new voices.

Especially Penzey’s.

Penzey’s has always been my preferred spice company. In pandemic days, getting it meant ordering online instead of visiting the store down the road and all its amazing smells.  I subscribed to the email list with my order and thus began my deeper love affair with Penzey’s.

Bill at Penzey’s writes heartfelt articles delivered to my inbox.  I gobble them up.  He talks of voting, equity, equality.  In your spice order right now will be victory pins, voting stickers and messages of love.

One post referenced a customer he’d lost because of his openly political stand. Bill didn’t care. He stood for something bigger with his life than selling a jar of spices, something like acting on your dreams and principles.

Every day I find more ways to align my values with my choices and my actions.  If I discover avoidance, lies, silence where action should be—I make new choices.

I load Penzey’s spices into everything I make.  Cajun, Ozark, Singapore, Chipotle …!  I evangelize on their behalf—daily.  They are doing good in this world.  I believe in them.

When we put our money where our mouths are, we can literally transform the flavor of our food with Penzy’s, and change our world with action.

* Momento:  “You own the life you live.”

*   Yes, I do know that Momento is really the Latin word, Memento. But Momento is my word, coined for its life in a moment, and for that moment’s ability to impact forever, which can be your gift to the world.