DAY 1 — CHICAGO
The Midwest is affectionately known in some circles as America’s Heartland, and so Cleora Daily and I are taking off today to start our trip in the Heartland with our visit to Chicago. Now Chicago is cleaning up to greet us by having some serious thunderstorms and tornado watches. The pilot of my flight tells us that we may have to stay in a holding pattern for 45 minutes while they find out if we can land in Chicago. I settle in to do some spiritual exercises (s.e.’s) when just a few minutes later there’s miraculously a little hole in the clouds and we descend rapidly to land just a bit late at O’Hare airport.
Meanwhile my trusty roommate-to-be, Cleora, is not so lucky. She is at the Kalamazoo airport being told that no planes for Chicago are being allowed to take off. Not to be denied, Cleora rents a car and drives to Chicago with another would-be air traveler. She arrives at our hotel not too long after I do and we spend the evening catching up, swapping tales of the day’s adventures, preparing to start MSIA Services the next day. Before going to sleep, I catch up on emails. I send a few revisions of directions back to Vincent Dupont, Lesley Freeman and Roger Wakefield who will be joining us tomorrow. Ah, bed feels so good tonight.
DAY 2 — CHICAGO
At breakfast this morning, Cleora and I are joined by Mary Ann Settembrino and MaryAnn Somerville. Both are balancers-in-training and catch us up on their adventures from the evening before. Mary Ann Settembrino was coming in from Philadelphia and MaryAnn Somerville from Los Angeles. Both ladies endured the rigors of long hours of travel to get to Chicago to sit in on MSIA Services–neither of them arrived until after 2:30 a.m. to the hotel. Mercifully today was mostly sunny with very little wetness. We take off together to get to our Service location which is at Norine and Al Lever’s. They have a lovely home in Mission Hills and as we drive into the complex we are seeing trees bedecked in those phosphorescent autumn colors. I’m happy that we’re getting a taste of Fall.
Services go smoothly as Norine hostesses the day. We catch up with old friends about the past year’s happenings and enjoy a nourishing lunch too. At the end of Services we check in with our newly arrived rest of the travel team and all decide to rendezvous at Whole Foods–one of our favorite field trip locations. It’s such fun to go running across the store to embrace Lesley, Vincent and Roger welcoming them to Chicago. With goodies in hand we head back to the hotel to have our dinner and look over the logistics for the Chicago section of the trip. There are newly approved ordinations to be scheduled and car stuff to be handled and then it’s hugs, goodnights and back to our rooms to do some emails, before grabbing another night’s sleep. Tomorrow the Traveler, John Morton, will be with us for the evening’s Blessings Workshop, and there’s lots to do to complete our preparations. Things are starting to buzz now!
DAY 3 — CHICAGO
Today Lesley Freeman joins Cleora and me for Services at Norine and Al Lever’s home. It is lovely to walk around at lunch time and see the beautiful trees turning all shades of yellow, orange, red and gold. Mary Ann Somerville and Maryann Settembrino are sitting in on Services with us. We finish our Services and head over to the Infinity Foundation where the Blessings Workshop will be this evening. On the way we make a quick dash into Whole Foods to get some sandwiches for Vincent and Roger who have been working all day to set up the audio/video equipment for the workshop. Just gotta feed those guys! John Morton meets us just in time to join us for two ordinations. One ordainee has driven in just this day from St. Louis to get her ordination and initiation.
Nancy Marder, who runs the Infinity Foundation, welcomes all of us and introduces MSIA and PTS to the newcomers, and then welcomes and introduces John Morton. We are very grateful to Nancy for inviting John to present at the Foundation. There were around 30+ participants and afterwards John stayed around and signed books too. Thank you, Mary Shimandle, for coordinating the Services and Norine and Al, for offering your lovely home for Services, and to all who supported and assisted in perfect ways to make our visit to Chicago so sweet.
DAY 4 — ON THE ROAD TO KALAMAZOO
I just love that name–Kalamazoo. The people here are sooo nice and down to earth. Our drive today is beautiful with autumn gorgeously displaying itself. The temperature drops as we progress towards Kalamazoo and the crispness increases in the air. Yes, it is feeling just like Fall. We love these travel days because it is fun to cruise along. We visit with each other, tell jokes, catch up on email or review coming workshops, sometimes we listen to the radio, munching on snacks. The fellowshipping is great. As we arrive in Kalamazoo we make for a health food store – one of our favorite stops-and buy a few more things like lemons and grapefruits, and essentials like chocolate covered ginger. Then it’s full on to the hotel so we can check in, grab a quick lunch, and start Services. Bruce Rosenfeld has joined us to sit in on Services here. We’re on a roll now. At the end of our day, around 8:00 p.m.ish our work day slows down. We unpack, sit down to the computers for email catchups, and slowly unwind towards sleep.
DAY 5 — KALAMAZOO AND THE EVENTS BEGIN
Today we get going into Services and before we know it, it’s time for lunch. We decide to go out for lunch and taste of the fresh crisp Fall air and catch a few sun rays. We eat at the Food Dance Cafe, then we run back to do the afternoon of Services. Roger and Vincent are preparing the audio/video for the first event of the weekend, the Exploring Spirit in Your Everyday Life workshop that is scheduled for tonight. Cleora and I are facilitating and we’re both ready to go when 7:30 p.m. rolls around. Kay Stolsonburg is our team captain and with her able assistants has prepared the room. Mic’d and ready to go, Cleora and I are joined by 48 participants that have come from all parts of Michigan, Chicago, Toronto, Florida, Alabama to name a few places. We look out and see so many familiar faces and we’re very happy to spend the evening looking at tools that assist us in bringing Spirit more present into areas of our lives such as relationships, work, health and money. We laugh and are touched and once again remember that who we really are is so much more than our bodies, minds and emotions. Still we can love all of us and all of that. Fun and joy is in the air as we close for the evening with thanks to Cay Velderman, the new Michigan MSIA Rep, and Bob Skylis and Lorraine Andrews, the PTS Reps, for organizing and creating all the events taking place this weekend. This evening has been the perfect tee-up for tomorrow when we begin the Turning Points to Personal Liberation. So off to our rooms we go, more email, a few snacks and then with Light all around we lay ourselves down to sleep. Thanks for your Light along the way. We sure appreciate it.
DAY 6 — KALAMAZOO
Another beautiful day in Kalamazoo. This land was home to the Potawatomi Indians and the name Kalamazoo to this day has no clear origin but lots of interesting theories about how it got its name. We’re happy to be here and be participating in the Turning Points to Personal Liberation workshop. Vincent Dupont is our facilitator and in his very own poetic, spontaneous and fun, French style he is presenting to our group of 64 many of the ways we can find ourselves stuck in negative emotions and how we can turn this around to the positive. We’re looking at our “Sacred Cows” and there’s lots of mooing going on as we expand our awareness on how these sacred bovine are distracting us from our true intentions. There’s been laughter and tears today as we listen to John-Roger excerpts, and do the exercises. We keep letting go and moving into the freedom and liberation, realizing once again that the Traveler is with us every step of the way, and we’re lovable no matter what.
We end our day with a beautiful ordination and we delight in having an open night which we fill with doing emails and taking care of ourselves with a little extra rest and relaxation. Some of us are like little kids on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to arrive, as we prepare for John Morton to be with us tomorrow in the workshop and for the seminar. Our friends here in Michigan have embraced us warmly and it’s wonderful to see some of our fellow MSIAers from Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Kansas, Ohio, Chicago and Florida participating with us.
Well, tomorrow is another day, sure to be filled to the brim with wonders. May each of us know a special peaceful rest tonight!
DAY 7 — THE TRAVELER IN KALAMAZOO
Today is a fine day–more beautiful Fall made even more radiant by the arrival of the Traveler, John Morton. Fresh from his overnight flight, John comes to take sharing with the participants of the Turning Points to Personal Liberation workshop who have been eagerly awaiting him.
John wastes no time in going to the heart and Soul of the matter and assisting those who are willing to see their opportunities and move to their own liberation. Then John joins all of us for lunch, visiting and touching to those in the buffet line and who stop by our table. There seems barely time to eat a few bites, brush teeth and it’s time for the MSIA Seminar with Q&A. Bob Skyliss is our delightful and shiny MC, and one of the first things he does is call us staff up to the stage, taking us by surprise. Turns out that the community had gotten together to make sure we remember our visit this year and give each of us and John, tee shirts that say “Yes, there is a Kalamazoo.” What fun! Then we get to enjoy some wonderful Moments of Peace with J-R that make our hearts sing and lovingly prepare the way for the Traveler to be with us. John is introduced and as he takes the stage, he invites the Rieselman family to step forward so that he can do little Andrea’s baby blessing.
Baby blessings are the most special gifts, and we love to have them as part of the seminar programs. The babies’ souls often radiate the most priceless experiences of peace, love and joy. This baby granted us a deep moment of peace for which I was truly grateful. Afterwards, John held up the baby who waved at the group evoking peels of joyous laughter. Then John went right into the seminar and Q&A starting by asking the group for “Answers”. In a sweet twist it was lovely to hear how John took the “answers” brought to him and responded to the question that lay underneath. What a beautiful and rich time and way to cap a very full weekend. After the event, we were assisted enthusiastically by many volunteers allowing us to finish our pack up in record time, and have a staff meal. Then it was time to pack, do a few more emails, and take in a luxury–a full night’s sleep.
DAY 8 — ON TO MINNEAPOLIS
Today’s a travel day when we do simple things like pack up the cars, drive to the airports, take a few flights, get to a new hotel, and settle ourselves into our new “home” for the next few days. We enjoy the camaraderie of our little band of merry staff and a Traveler and catching some extra SE’s and SZ’s on the planes. Kathy Kornblum, our Minnesota Rep, is at our new hotel to greet us. She has prepared the way so that all of our needs have been taken care of (my goodness, we each have our own box of chocolates) and we begin our settling in process. It’s such a pleasure to have our rooms waiting when we arrive. Ooooh, it’s a little cooler here in Minneapolis and word has it that snow is on its way in a few days. Amazing how the climate changes! Well it’s all part of the wonderful scenery along the way. Tomorrow is a busy day from start to finish, so tonight we grab some dinner and are doing email, and then it’s sweet dreams. Thanks for your Light!
