For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

In-Box Overflows With Feel-Good Emails

 As steward of this 700-word space each Saturday morning, from time to time I like to step aside and open the forum up to my readers.

Let me begin today with a feel-good story from Kathy Murphy, who wrote: “I witnessed a remarkable incident last week that I want to share with you.

“While waiting for the red arrow to change on Telegraph Road so that I could turn left and enter the Post Office parking lot, I saw an elderly woman moving very slowly with her walker across Wake Forest. She didn’t even reach the median strip before the ‘Walk’ sign was cancelled.

“A driver ready to proceed toward Victoria Avenue stopped his truck and emerged to warn oncoming cars that she should arrive at the other side before they moved forward. A young man (perhaps in his 30’s), he patiently held up his arms like a policeman in the middle of the street as she passed by him.

“I was glad that no drivers honked horns in spite of the long line of cars that waited to go ahead. It was a wonderful sight to behold, granting me the opportunity to renew my belief in the goodness of humanity.”

*

Shirley Carson responded to my William Wordsworth-like “The Child is father to the Man” role reversal experience with my son while visiting him in New York City:

“As an 80-year-old, I tend to not accept the role reversal from my children – I am so determined to prove that I can still do everything I always did, and thus turn down their efforts to be ‘The child is mother to the woman or Son is father to the woman.’

“My children are great adults and after reading your column I have decided to back off and let them be the people they were raised to be! Thank you so much for giving me food for thought!”

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Venturan Dick Holt offered his own change of perspective in response to my column on the art of “kintsugi” and finding golden beauty in daily life:

“Our backyard is full of God’s handiwork and every day I lay in bed looking out through my window that overlooks our backyard which is 5-feet by 8-feet and only 5 feet away from my bed, and marvel at all the things that I have missed all these many years of my life.

“Now, I am laid up spending all day in bed every day and it has given me a chance to enjoy all of those beautiful sights that heretofore I overlooked. Your essay triggered me to look again with a new eye.

“I have hundreds of birds of all species and kinds of through golden eagles and then all kinds of little four-legged animals starting with mice, lizards, chipmunks, and going up through the bigger four-legged kinds of animals, namely squirrels, possums, skunks, coyotes and many others.

“And the pine trees and rubber trees and philodendron plants, along with bottle bush and hibiscus and several other plants that I have completely overlooked much of my life – being a physicist and mathematician and missing the beauty of many things because of my ignorance of the biological side of life.

“Thanks, Woody, for helping to reopen my looking glass.”

*

In an email with the subject line “Want to share an act of kindness and compassion with you” came this from Katie Behné:

“At Trader Joe’s at Pacific View Mall yesterday afternoon, the checker (‘H. Peter’ was on the receipt) asked how my day was.

“I said, ‘OK, I guess.’

“He said that didn’t sound good. I told him that my husband had open-heart surgery yesterday and was struggling.

“He said he was sorry.

“As I’m getting money out of my wallet, he walks away. He comes back with a bouquet and said that it was from Trader Joe’s. He leaned toward me and said that things would be better tomorrow. I got teary. Feel-good story of the day, huh?”

It is certainly one bright color in the rainbow.

* * *

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For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Stay Calm And Treasure the ‘Helpers’

             A cornucopia of notes, quotes and random thoughts . . .

*

With every new terrorist attack, these words from Fred Rogers – the late host of the children’s TV show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” – become meaningful once more to people of all ages:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers.’ You will always find people who are helping.”

*

Before the recent bombing in Manchester, England, I could not have picked 24-year-old “Pop Princess” Ariana Grande out of a lineup with Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle and Mulan.

However, two weeks after the heinous attack outside the arena where she was performing, Grande proved she is more than a pretty-faced singer. For starters, she helped organize an event that raised more than 12 million dollars for the deceased victims and their families, the survivors, and first responders.

Perhaps an even greater, and more difficult, thing Grande did was be a “helper” by visiting with the children and adults still in the hospital – and with the grieving parents of the young victims who died.

*

On a much lighter note, I am not a fan of rainfall showerheads – they make shampoo get in my eyes.

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Speaking of shampoo, nobody asked me, but following the directions on the bottle – “Wash. Rinse. Repeat.” – is as harebrained as hand-washing dishes after removing them from the dishwasher.

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Speaking of harebrained, organizers of the Springfield Soccer Club in Nebraska disqualified an 8-year-old Mili Hernandez, and her 11-and-under team, from its tournament because she has short-cropped hair and “looks like a boy.”

Harebrained, and heartless, tournament officials stuck to their decision even when the parents of tearful Mili produced their daughter’s insurance card to prove she is a girl.

Proof once again that youth sports should ban adults from being within 400 yards of all fields, courts, tracks and swimming pools.

*

I find it hard to believe how overused the word “unbelievable” is.

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Ben DeWitt’s dedication to philanthropy is, I dare say, unbelievable.

Over the past seven years as Race Director of the “Mountains 2 Beach Marathon” from Ojai to Ventura, DeWitt, now age 30, has helped donate more than $250,000 to the event’s charity partners.

This year’s M2B Marathon on May 28 generated nearly $65,000 for the Ventura Unified School District, Ventura Education Partnership, Ventura Hillsides Conservancy, Community Memorial Hospital, Ventura Community Partnerships Foundation, Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, and the high school cross country programs at Nordhoff, Ventura, Buena and Foothill Tech.

Additionally, 600 pounds of food were donated to Foodshare and 500 pounds of clothing were given to Goodwill.

“As a Ventura native and product of VUSD, I am proud and extremely humbled to be able to give back to my community,” says Ben, a “helper” who makes Mister DeWitt’s Neighborhood a better place.

*

It takes worn-out running shoes to finish a marathon – and worn-out paintbrushes to create a masterpiece, worn-out pencils to master calculus, worn-out tools-of-any-trade to reach your goals.

*

Nobody asked me, but considering how rare it seems to be, I think the term should be “uncommon sense.”

*

 Let me finish full circle with a story from the horrific London Bridge attack that would have made Mr. Rogers smile through the tears.

According to “The Sun” British newspaper, 33-year-old Richard Angell was with friends eating dinner at the Arabica Bar and Kitchen when the terror attacks occurred outside the restaurant.

After the panicked customers and staff eventually emerged from safe hiding, Angell refused to let the devils win, defiantly vowing: “I’ll be going back to the same restaurant to finish my meal, pay my bill and give them a double tip. They cared about us and our safety.”

He added: “If me having a G&T (gin and tonic) in a nice bar, flirting with handsome men, upsets them – I’m going to do it more.”

A “Keep Calm And Carry On” attitude that is so perfect, it is unbelievable.

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

Save

Save

For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Finding Golden Beauty in Daily Life

“Kintsugi” is the art of repairing broken pottery with seams of gold and, in the process, making the object even more beautiful for having been broken.

However, there is one more ingredient necessary to make this magical transformation a reality: a new perspective. One must embrace the gilded flaws.

It seems to me that kintsugi need not be limited to pottery. Looking at pieces of our everyday lives with a new perspective can bring previously unseen beauty into focus.

Kintsugi should apply to our daily life, not just to repaired pottery.

For example, consider a tale shared by my friend, John Watts, about a farmer who had lived on the same farm his entire life. It was a good farm, yet as the years passed the farmer began to wonder, “Is there something better for me?”

The farmer’s discontentment grew and he eventually decided to find a new and a better farm. He listed his property with a realtor who prepared a truthful ad putting an emphasis on all the good features of this particular farm:

“Ideal location, modern equipment, healthy livestock, acres of fertile ground, dependable irrigation, high yield on crops, well-kept barns, and a nice two-story house on a hill above the flat pasture.”

When the realtor called the farmer to get his approval on the ad, the farmer replied: “Hold everything! I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to sell after all because I’ve been looking for a place just like that my whole life!”

Life-instead-of-pottery kintsugi is not limited to fables.

My daughter, who lives in the Bay Area, was home last weekend to celebrate her 30th birthday. In addition to a big party that provided a reunion with dear friends and family, Dallas enjoyed something very small and routine: taking our 10-year-old boxer, Murray, for his morning and evening walks around the neighborhood.

“Every day we would walk the same one-mile loop,” Dallas shares, “yet every day I would notice new, startling details: a small bird strutting jauntily across the street, like a band leader in a parade; sprinklers watering a front yard of dead grass; a toddler shrieking with glee, running in circles in a driveway as her mother watched with a tired smile, raising a hand to us in greeting as we walked by; bushes laden with bright red berries; a father and son playing catch in the park.”

Here she adds a golden observation: “So many rich and beautiful details that would be so easy to miss if you were not paying attention and looking for them. And indeed, we would pass many other morning walkers on their phones or listening to music, rushing ahead with a glazed look in their eyes.”

Dallas was not the only one experiencing a form of kintsugi: “Meanwhile, every single day, Murray exuberantly sniffed at plants and lampposts and studied the sidewalk like it was a brand-new territory to explore – even though it was the exact same path he had taken the day before, and the month before that, and the year before that.”

Again displaying wisdom, Dallas adds: “Perhaps he is on to what it means to be happier: being open to seeing and finding in each day after day after day, new sparks of joy and wonder.

“Walking Murray was a reminder to find the extraordinary in the ordinary and see the beauty in each day because, as my brother likes to say, ‘Each day is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.’ ”

Speaking of her younger brother, Greg phoned me recently after he finished an evening run in New York City. The run in itself was nothing special, a short four-miler after a long workday at a relaxed pace on a path along the Hudson River.

Indeed, the run was pretty much indistinguishable from hundreds he has done since moving to Manhattan a couple years ago. Except for this, which he shared on the phone:

“Pops, you should have seen the sky and clouds changing colors over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so beautiful I paused mid-run to just look up and take it all in.”

My son’s voice was filled with kintsugi.

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

Save

Save