#118 / 2009 Winter Wrapup

WINTER 2009

#118

This November marked one year on the road for the Beatlicks. Our van, blessed officially by the Ukranian Orthodox Church, has been terrific. We have become true VW van owners now; we bought a second van just for spare parts. A young couple set out from St. Augustine, FL, in a van just like mine. They had quit their jobs, sold their vehicles, and hit the road loaded with surfboards headed for the West Coast. They furnished it with a $400 hemp canvas top, great cabinet works, new paint job, great tires, everything but a good motor. They didn’t make it past the desert. My mechanic and I bought the whole thing for $500. I put them on a bus bound for California; they’ll have to start all over. But as always, someone’s bad fortune is someone else’s good fortune.

                

My other good fortune is the healing of my relationship with my son. He didn’t speak to me for five years. Last summer we had a few civil meetings while I was back in Nashville. Yesterday was his birthday. I was barely eighteen when I gave birth. I had been to Indiana and Florida. That was the extent of my world view. I mailed him a card and present. The text message he sent me in return  said, “Thanks, I love you.”

As I journey forward my world has become so much happier, fuller. God bless us one and all.