Heartbreak

Despite a really lovely day yesterday, I actually feel a little heartbroken this morning.
I have to be very careful about what movies I see because I actually, somehow, think that they are real. (I remember being nervous about walking in the movie theater parking lot after watching a movie about Chicago mafia members shooting each other throughout the entire film. I was sure that I was about to get gunned down.)
Last night I went and saw the beautiful movie, "The Visitor," a movie about a middle-aged professor who meets an immigrant couple living in his apartment and, inspired by them, reconnects with his life. But the couple are not here legally and one simple misunderstanding sends one of them back to his dangerous home in Syria. The story was so well told (and acted) that I sat in my seat as the lights came on simply heartbroken.
I woke this morning thinking about the friends that I work with at the Minnesota Literacy center every week who are there to improve their English. I have no idea if they are legal or not and to me, it doesn't matter. But if they are here without their papers, I think about how they have to live with the fear of discovery every minute of their day, and that is the price that they're willing to pay to live here. A car accident, a home robbery....there is so much that they can't control that could reveal their situation to the authorities...and yet it is a risk that they're willing to take in order to live here. I would be absolutely heartbroken if one of them disappeared, and unlike the movie, it would be all too real.

Redbud is blooming

I've always thought my life list is pretty pathetic. I have no desire to climb a mountain, learn Italian or read Plato. (Although I would sort of like to learn Spanish lately. I think it's only fair to my students at the MLC to not be fluent in their language.)
But one item on my list is having my own Redbud tree. My KC family knows how crazy I am for them...I often try and time my visits to when the Redbud (and the Whitebud) are blooming. In Missouri they are so profuse that they are sold on the sidewalks of local hardware stores for $19. And now our own University of Minnesota has taken the tree and created a hybrid that can survive our more difficult winters.
The history of the back corner of my yard is a long one and not quite done yet, but last year I finally planted a Redbud. Last week, the branches showed lots of "bud" but no blooms. "At least it's alive," I thought. But this weekend, it's having its day in the sun (so to speak). I sort of want to throw a party for it. Welcome to spring, Redbud! Congratulations for making it through the longest winter of your life!
I'm not sure what else to on my life list to start working on, but this item has been very satisfying.

A good morning's work

It looks like we'll have 70 degrees for the first time this year. Out on the porch for lunch today, I can hardly imagine a more beautiful day. There is even a hint of lilac in the air.

Anne passes out hairnets for all of us.

Food tastes especially good to me after my morning experience at Feed My Starving Children. Together with about 50 students from the Minnesota Literacy Center and 10 teachers and volunteers, I spent the morning packing food for easy-to-prepare meals which will be sent to aid-relief organizations around the world for distribution to families. In just two hours, our group packed nearly 120 boxes of meals. The cost of the meal is just 17 cents to produce (although expected to go higher as the rice shortage becomes more severe) and has been designed to be easy and safe to transport, simple to make with only boiling water, and culturally acceptable worldwide.

Ali waits for everyone to get organized.

FMSC is located in an unremarkable office complex in the suburbs, but the facility is well-designed to get the job of food packing done quickly and economically. Each station is set up for 5 people: 2 people to hold the food pouch (taking turns), 1 to add a protein powder and dehydrated vegetables, 1 to add soy and rice, and 1 to seal the plastic and line them up to be boxed. Bags are weighed to be consistent (to hold down shipping costs) and spills on the table are swept right back into the rice bucket. We even did our own clean up at the end of the morning, washing utensils, tables and sweeping the floor so it was all ready for the next group.

Amah scoops up the rice.

We had a goal of 120 boxes for the morning..and just about met that goal (our bus was a little late). That was 4320 pouches of food that provided 25,920 meals or just about enough to feed 20 kids for a year.

Jorge tastes the meal after we're done.