On Fridays, I’m going to introduce you to my friends–one at a time.
I’m going to do this because I believe when we are introduced to someone with words from the heart, they become a part of our community. Our community grows. Our circle of care extends.
I love meeting someone, learning about their dreams or needs and feeling into whether I have something to offer. I love connecting people. I love helping others take the next right step in their lives.
So, I’m going to introduce you to people I love. And it may inspire you. You may have something to offer. You may have a message for someone I introduce. He or she may have something to offer you. I want to offer the dance of connection. I want to grow a community that is steeped in love and inclusivity and care.
Meet Kathy Blum.
I met Kathy the first summer I taught at Interlochen Arts Camp (http://www NULL.interlochen NULL.org/). We were assigned to live in the same cabin. Kath and I had dinner together the very first night. I felt comfortable with her immediately. I felt in my skin. I immediately liked her inner rhythm. It was quiet, calm and thoroughly capable.
Kath and I have been friends ever since. And it’s that same beautiful inner quiet and grace in action that moves me deeply. If I need to invoke a feeling a calm and “can do”, I think of Kath. If I need advice about how to execute something with clarity and poise, I call Kath.
And in all the years I’ve known her, I never cease to be amazed at how much she gets done. In twenty years, she has NEVER been without a job– not even for a week. (Well, yes, she takes vacations — but always with a job to which she returns). She moves from one amazing work achievement to another. And she does so with a seamless and gracious authority.
When I first met Kath she had just completed graduate school. She got her MFA in Creative Drama and Children’s Theater at the University of Texas at Austin. She was working with the middle school kids at Interlochen and they adored her.
She worked as a teaching assistant and an Assistant Professor of Theatre for a bunch of years, working in hundreds of different classrooms–seeing what worked and what didn’t. She was just getting started.
Without going through her whole resume, let me just say that Kathy eventually BUILT A SCHOOL in Atlanta. She was the Head of School for The Cliff Valley School (http://www NULL.cliffvalleyschool NULL.org/) and when she came to them, they were in a small space that was not their own. She raised the money to build a new school (6 million dollars), helped design the building and supervised it’s construction. She opened it and made sure all the parents were happy and the classes were running smoothly. Then, of course, she had a new mountain to climb.
Quite literally. She’s now living in a beautiful mountain town called Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia. And she’s the executive director of the Community Association (http://www NULL.snca NULL.org/about NULL.html). I like to call her the Arts Mayor. Her husband, among many other things, is a volunteer fireman for the town. They are growing their own HUGE garden and want to add many other animals to their already substantial number of cats and dogs. I don’t think they are going anywhere anytime soon.
One sweet story is how Kath fell in love with the town. When they lived in Atlanta, Kath and Todd used to take weekend adventures. They would head out of town on a particular road and take it as far as it would go. (Love it!) I think there was something about turning too — that they would only turn left when there was a choice. Anyway, on one of these trips, they ended up in the mountains in Sautee Nacoochee and stopped to get coffee. She went to pay and they didn’t take credit cards. Kath and Todd had no cash. They said, “No worries, just take some money out of this basket and give some next time you are in town.” Kath LOVED this. And next time she visited, she put a $20 in the basket.
Before we’re through, I also want to tell you about her artistry. She and Todd, built a 10 x10 studio out in back of their house for her to do her artistic projects. They found plans on line, laid the foundation and worked on it every weekend until it was done. Now, Kath gets to go out back and paint. And collage. And create. It’s her little artist’s haven and I think it allows her to BREATHE.
She also loves being in the big outdoors. She hikes and river rafts and camps. This, too, is her sustenance. This is what she dreams about as she’s in her 5th meeting of the day.
Kath and Juliana and I have gotten together as often as we can throughout the years. We are sisters and love our time together. We spend most of it somewhere cozy drinking tea or lattes and talking talking talking about our unfolding lives.
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