Wednesday, January 13, 2010

2009 Inventory

Regular meetings I cherished:
Book Club (monthly)
Artists’ Way (co-leading a group bi-weekly with Carol Pigg)
ACA Book Study (weekly;
http://www.adultchildren.org/)
Yoga with Emily Lange Epstein (12 weeks)

Concerts/Events I enjoyed:
The Book of Revelation (read aloud with sfx & music at Belmont Church)
Yale Whiffenpoofs (University School)
Tim Keller (Christ Presbyterian)
St. Olaf Choir (War Memorial)
One Night>One Voice (Women of Darfur) (Vanderbilt Divinity School)
Amy Courts Koopman (French Quarter)
Tokens Shows (Lipscomb)
Madeleine Albright (Vanderbilt)
Natan Sharansky (Vanderbilt)
Carol Pigg’s 60th Birthday Gala
Shana Kohnstamm Art Show (Twist Gallery)
Women in the Round (Bluebird Café)
Nashville Film Festival (especially two shows with Chris & Jan Harris: “Thanks, kids!”)
Sojourners Mobilization to End Poverty (Washington, DC)
A.-J. Levine (Blakemore United Methodist; Christ Church Cathedral)
Christian Scholars Conference, where I heard authors Barbara Brown Taylor, Marilynne Robinson, Richard Hughes and Shaun Casey, among many others. (Lipscomb)
Diana Krall (Schermerhorn) (Note to self: Don’t go to this alone again!)
Michael W. Smith & Marty Goetz (Belmont Church)
Robert Hicks’ Primitive Art show & explication (Vanderbilt Divinity School)
Nashville Symphony: Russia’s Greatest Hits and A Space Odyssey (Schermerhorn)
Fred & Martha Goldners’ pre-Yom Kippur Seder
Landon Pigg’s role in Drew Barrymore’s first directorial outing, Whip It!
Southern Festival of Books: I especially enjoyed hearing from Shaun Casey, John Siegenthaler, Chip Arnold, Ben Pearson, and Robert Hicks
Anglicanism 101: 6-week class (St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church)
Our Town presented by Studio Tenn Theater Company (Loveless Barn)
John Keats Birthday Tea (Savannah Tea Room)
Doris Kearns Goodwin, award recipient (Nashville Public Library)
Lighting of the Green (Lipscomb)
50+ Christmas Dinner: Jan & Chris Harris singing Light in the Stable; Chip Arnold reading Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory. Unbelievable richness. (Thanks, TVC!)

Essays I wrote:
See http://www.gwenmoore.blogspot.com/ for most of these.
A Tribute to My Brother
Musings on Aging in Tabula Rasa (Vanderbilt literary publication)
Sharansky & Obama
A Light for the City
And That More Abundantly
Workplace Wisdom

Songwriting: Several co-writing sessions with new friend Laurie Smith and one song with Laurie and dear friend Gabe Pigg

Singing I did:
The Nashville Choir in Hymn Sing at the Schermerhorn
TNC recording session for David Huntsinger & Kris Wilkinson at RCA studio
TNC recording session for Disneyworld with David Hamilton
Worship team at church (“Back in the saddle again…”; just once, but it felt good.)
The Village Chapel Choir
Christmas caroling at Sommet Center

Praise God, He brought these loved ones back from the brink:
Julianne Hannaford
Gabe Pigg
Brian Carr
Michael Shumate
Marty McCall

Remembering this year’s graduating class:
Danny Petraitis
Nina Harmon
Mabel Harding Bean Wood
Henry Martin

Celebrating new lives:
Carson Jerde
Sam Bruce
Isaac DePaula
Lylah Nash
Carla Sullivan’s nephews (newly adopted)

House guests I enjoyed hosting:
Ted and Jane-Ann Thomas
Dorothy Dresser
Michael and Ilona Haag
Clyde Barganier

Special thanks:
…to Mark Hollingsworth for providing this format with which to reminisce, for his community organizing and his zest for event attendance. He has been very inspirational.
…to Carolyn Naifeh for hosting me a whole week while in D.C. What a treat!
…to Rhonda Lowry for inviting me to reconnect with my roots.
…to Jeff and Amy Cary and David and Angie Lemley for giving me such hope for the next generation of my roots.
…to Clyde Barganier for deciding to write that first email.
…to all who have prayed with me and for me this year. You have touched and blessed the lives of hundreds of medical students and only God knows how many more.

I love all four seasons.
I love the exuberance of spring,
the laziness of summer,
the busyness and anticipation of fall,

and the coziness of winter,
with its magical ice
and snow
and crispness,
its hot drinks and crackling,
popping fires,
and its sacred, reverent hush.

Happy Epiphany! May we all be surprised by joy in 2010.