Maybe another foot of snow due tomorrow, maybe another opportunity to use our “neighborhood snowblower.” After a very snowy winter a couple of years ago, a bunch of us chipped in to buy one. The next year? It collected dust in our carriage house. But it’s been worth every collective penny this winter; that’s for sure. (Is it wishful thinking to believe that since that gas-powered sidewalk-clearer is shared by several households, our neighborhood reduces its carbon footprint? Anyone? Anyone?)
Who is my neighbor? Buying a snowblower together, sharing ripe tomatoes and zucchini together from the raised-bed vegetable garden in their (more sunny than ours) back yard. These are my neighbors. But what about that woman whose anguished, Haitian-Creole lament woke me up yesterday morning as she walked past my house? Isn’t she my neighbor, too?
What am I called to do?
Dear Patricia,
Well, hi, there, Patricia, and greetings and salutations and Happy Special Nice Blessed Palm Sunday to you and to you AND FOR VERY ESPECIALLY FOR YOU AND YOURS like with your so very dearest and darling husband, your Loved One in the long-term care facility, for your awesome children, for your precious grandchildren, for your incredible siblings and the rest of your beloved family, for your blessedly holy and pure in heart friendsfamily at your awesome and special Friends Meeting at Cambridge, for your great yoga friends, and for all of your incredible friends!!!!! 🙂 <3 AWWWWW, my absolutely FANTASTIC sistah and friend, Patricia, how I've so longer for and yearning to wanting so to respond with all of my very heartfelt, detailed, and thorough thoughts, ideas, and comments sooner than this to your beautiful, absolutely beautiful, very introspective and contemplative blog post article which is just brilliant, absolutely brilliant!!!!! 🙂 <3 I've been just bursting with such delightfully eager anticipation in order to do so and wasn't able to until now, sistah!!!!! 🙂 <3 Sistahfriend, I've seen and heard on TV, NPR, and on the Web about the fierce weather you're all having in your great area, Patricia!!!!! WOW!!!!! I've been praying so hard and so much daily and frequently as I do as always as usual anyway FOR YOU and FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU that you are all staying safe, sound, and okay with the horrid weather you were all facing, experiencing, and enduring!!!!!! Sister, WOW, I so love the marvelous idea you and your dear husband and your superb neighbors have about the shared "neighborhood snowblower." WOW, this is just a splendid idea and it shows true neighborly love, friendship, and working in the very cooperative unity of the spirit!!!!! WOW!!!!!! I remember that last year was milder for you all there and I for sure remember how harsh the winter had been there a couple of years ago and I even remember you writing about that in your outstanding blog post article back then. This is truly such a money-saver and a very fine, practical investment for each and every one of you as such awesome neighbors each one to another in your need. Sisterfriend, I don't think it's wishful thinking that since the gas-powered sidewalk-clearer is shared by several households that your neighborhood reduces its carbon footprint-in fact, I think that all of you are very much indeed decreasing your neighborhood's carbon footprint!!!!! WOW, you are all just wonderful and amazing and very diligently conscientious to do so, my so, so very dearest and darling friend, Patricia!!!!! WOW!!!!! I think that it's just great that you all as such so, so very dearest folks shared a community vegetable garden!!!! WOW!!!! What absolutely yummy, delicious, and delectable tomatoes and zucchin come from that raised-bed vegetable garden and how helpful and beneficial it is that your neighbor has more sun in their backyard unlike what you and your dear husband have so that you two and the other spectacular neighbors can feast on the bounty of this beautiful garden for all!!!! WOW!!!!! I sure really love that Idea!!!!! WOW, this is just wonderful here, my dear, dearest, precious Patricia!!!!! 🙂 <3 Sistah, I love how you are just so open in asking yourself like with the very fitting and applicable title to this astounding blog post article says with these very apt words, "Who Is My Neighbor?" YOU with your so, so very dearest, special, precious, and beautiful heart and spirit had your very heart ache with such love and concern as you were startled awake hearing the anguished lament of the Haitian-Creole woman walking past your home that morning. I love so and just cherish YOU, sistah, and how you're just so open and as always as usual once again being ready, wanting, willing, and able to seek and to find the answer as you ask yourself, "What am I called to do?" This reminds me of the very lovingly caring, sensitive, and heartfelt blog post article your masterfully composed awhile back called, "it Just Wells Up, Right?" I think it was titled and how you were so concerned to know how to even more connect to our Interconnected, Beloved Community as you are a citizen of this human community and family and, as you are already doing strraight from your very precious and beautiful heart and spirit you so long for yearning and wanting even more to make those connections and to even remember more and to be even more aware of how you have a certain amount of privilege and advantages and want to continue as you're already doing so, so very graciously and generously to reach out to and to remember everyone including those who don't share the same privilege and advantages that you do. Sistahfriend, YOU so, so very much try so, so very hard in such a diligently conscientious manner and your life, and the life of other so, so very right on, wondrously wonderful white women and white girls ain't no crystal stair because even with having some privilege and advantages your very lives as such special, precious, and super white women and white girls are very hard and such a struggle as you all face, endure, and experience such vile, perniciously pervasive sexism, misogyny, and patriarchy, and very, very many of you suffer from sexual abuse, sexual terrorism, sexual harassment, abuse in all of its evil aspects, and from domestic violence. Sisthafriend, I just so, so very much love and cherish YOU my dear, dearest, precious Patricia, and other so, so very right on, wondrously wonderful white women as the black woman who I am and you are all my very, very heart, and I just so love and cherish how YOU, sistahfriend, and how each and every one of you as such superb white women try so, so hard with such deep sincerity, always trying to do your absolutely very best and being so earnest!!!!! 🙂 <3 My so, so very sweet sistah and friend, Patricia, YOU and other so, so very dearest and darling white women are my ABSOLUTELY BY VERY FAR my very favorite people among white people BUT ALSO my ABSOLUTELY BY VERY FAR my very favorite people among all people in general, and each and every one of you as such darling white women are my very life's and eternal blessings!!!!! 🙂 <3 WOW!!!!! Sistah, I'm afraid that if I don't wrap up my comment now that it might not go through=the longer comments sometimes don't go through lately but I can try as soon as I can to write several shorter responses like I did with the previous blog post article. Sistah, I thank-YOU and Spirit continually FOR YOU AND FOR YOUR VERY PRESENCE IN MY VERY LIFE!!!!! WOW!!!! YAY for YOU, Patricia!!!!! WOW!!!! YAY!!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!! YAY for our very sistahhood and friendship, Patricia!!!! WOW!!!! YAY!!!!! YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!! 🙂 <3 Please have such a superbly super Sunday and a wondrously wonderful rest of your weekend with an equally wonderful week ahead and may all of your very days be so, so very especially blessed, my friend!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Spirit just so, so very much loves and cherish YOU, dear Patricia, AND SO DO I A WHOLE LOT AND A WHOLE BUNCH, TOO!!!!!! 🙂 <3
Very Warmly and Sincerely FOR ALWAYS my awesomely special and dearly precious FOR ALWAYS SOUL SISTAHFRIEND CHRISTIAN QUAKER WHITE WOMAN WHO YOU'RE FOR ALWAYS SO, SO VERY MUCH, PATRICIA, sisterfriend of mine, with My and Spirit's VERY PEACE AND LOVE FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, sister of mine, AND WITH SUCH BLESSINGS AND SUCH VERY EVEN MORE BLESSINGS FOR YOU FOR ALWAYS, friend of mine, 🙂 <3
YOURS FOR ALWAYS soul sistahfriend CHRISTIAN BLACK WOMAN and FOR ALWAYS IN THE VERY GREAT SPIRIT OF UNITY AND SOLIDARITY, Sherry Gordon in Iowa City, Iowa 🙂 <3
Here they are my absolutely WONDERFUL sistah and friend, Patricia, with the shorter replies added on because I was afraid and concerned that my previous reply wouldn’t go through since it was long so I stopped short before I said everything. WOW, Patricia, what a great title here for your very salient and succinct blog post article with such a very vitally urgent and necessary, important message to tell here with these very apt words. This awesome title is very fitting and applicable to the great themes and topics of this very lovingly heartfelt and warmhearted, openhearted blog post article here. The picture which you’ve once again as usual as always very graciously and generously featured and included with this very fine and excellent blog post article is just perfect here, picture-perfect, with the very important and urgent note here. WOW, it was a very sorely needed idea for this urgent note to be written because with the car parked by the fire hydrant if there were to be a fire the fire engine truck wouldn’t be able to access the fire hydrant to put out the fire which would endanger the safety of the people in their homes in your precious neighborhood causing you all harm and even possibly endangering your very lives!!!!!! Also, if the fire engine truck couldn’t access the fire hydrant because the car was parked in the way without that access to the life-saving and life-sustaining water in the fire hydrant the fire rescue people wouldn’t be able to get at that so necessary water to put out the fire to save the homes and all of the property for each and every one of you as such awesome neighbors! WOW, it WAS such an empowering idea for whoever wrote and left that very needed note on the windshield of the parked car!!!!! WOW!!!!! So important here, sistah and friend of mine, Patricia!!!!!! 🙂 <3
AWWWWWWWW, my sweet white sistah, Patricia, I so wanted to say also that YOU as a so, so very right on, wondrously wonderful white woman and also other so, so very right on, wondrously wonderful white women and white girls do not have problem-free and stress-free live with your very lives being very difficult and very hard as each and every one of you as such precious and special white women and white girls are so, so very grievously and egregiously oppressed as women and girls, and as white women and white girls, with such perniciously pervasive sexism, misogyny, and patriarchy. My very, very heart just aches and breaks as each and every one of you are my very, very heart as such awesome white women as very, very many of you face such relentless oppression facing, enduring, and experiencing sexual abuse, sexual terrorism, sexual harassment, physical abuse and all abuse in all of its ugly and heinous aspects, and domestic violence. YOU ALL as such darling white women and white girls even with white privilege and if you all have some(not all) advantages ARE STILL EVEN SO very harshly and horridly oppressed as women, as white women and white girls, and your very lives ain’t no crystal stair and your very lives are very difficult, harsh, and very, very hard with all that each and every one of you as such so, so very dearest and darling white women and white girls face, experience, and endure!!!!!! AWWWWW, I so, so very much love and cherish YOU, my sweet white sistahfriend, Patricia, and other so, so very absolutely FANTASTIC AND WONDERFUL white women for each and every one of you are my very, very heart as the black woman who I am!!!!!! YOU ALL can for sure count on that and count of me!!!!!!! 🙂 < I'm here for YOU, my dear, dearest, precious Patricia, and for each and every one of you as such precious and special white women FOR ALWAYS AND I WILL FOR ALWAYS LOVE YOU, PATRICIA, AND EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU AS SUCH DARLING WHITE WOMEN FOR ALWAYS!!!!!! 🙂 <3
And also, my dear, dearest, precious, darling friend and sistah, Patricia, YOU ALL as such strong and valiant white women and white girls try so, so very hard doing your absolutely very best with such a deeply sincere heart and spirit working and trying so hard in such a valiant manner and each and every one of you are my so, so very heroines!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Please also have such a Happy Nice Special Blessed Holy Week with Holy Maundy Passion Thursday, Good Friday, and A Happy Easter FOR YOU AND FOR YOU AND FOR VERY ESPECIALLY FOR YOU AND YOURS, PATRICIA like with your beloved husband, your so, so very dear Loved One in the long-term care facility, for your awesome children, for your precious grandchildren, for your wonderful siblings and for all of your incredible family, for your so, so very cool in spirit and Spirit yoga friends and, in fact, for all of your other great friends, and for your blessedly holy, pure in heart, and special friendsfamily at your Friends Meeting At Cambridge!!!!! 🙂 <3 I love YOU so, so very much and cherish YOU so, Patricia, and I love each and every one of you so, so very much and cherish YOU ALL and I pray for and think of YOU, Patricia, AND each and every one of you daily and very frequently sending to each and every one of you such greatly strong positive energy!!!!!! 🙂 <3 Spirit so, so very much loves and cherishes YOU, Patricia, and each and every one of you AND SO DO I A WHOLE LOT AND A WHOLE BUNCH, TOO, for each and every one of you!!!!!!! 🙂 <3
And your so loving and awesome neighbors, too!!!!! 🙂 <3