Rewind to June 2013, Vermont hasn’t seen this much rain for over 100 years and what seemed like hilarious jokes about building an Ark instead of a community center are taking on a more serious tone every day! My finger crossing about 2014’s weather begin early in the year because even the tent that had offered shelter last year was lost to a gust of wind and I had to make a new plan.
If you’d seen the Machine Shed on Saturday June 28, you wouldn’t have believed the amount of machinery, buckets, wires, wood and random tractor parts that even Eric didn’t recognize that had strewn the floor just a week before, but when you move to community you quickly realize that miracles really can happen. Parker, Sam, Max, Jared and Lindsey can all be thanked for making a wonderful space in which to extend our arms in welcome to family and friends from near and wide.
The Sun shined on us and baked our skins but it was the familiar faces that lit up our eyes and smiles, the stories, the music, the updates on Heartbeet’s non-stop year, for some – the first glimpses of Amber Rose in all its summer glory and visions of hope and expectation at the spot where our community center will stand. We ate like Kings and Queens, the kids swam in the pond, it was a hive of activity and celebration. This is what it’s like to have a family that you can’t count, to be surrounded by love and to really belong to this world, this is community, this is Heartbeet.
So many Thank You’s for everyone that made this happen; Pete Johnson, Patchwork Bakery, Buffalo Mountain Coop, GMR, The Flower Basket & Calkins and all the food donations, same time next year? Bring your umbrellas just in case but mostly just bring yourself!
Clare