Tonto to Turnblad to Tony

...which is only slightly different from Tinker to Evers to Chance.

This post bodes of length, so be advised that this particular read might require some extra time and would best be savored along with your favorite cup of tea or coffee.

Today, I find myself totally exhausted. The tasks I had to complete kept me from seeing how hard I have been pushing myself and running only on fumes. Suffice to say, that the past two (or is it three?) weeks have been some of the most stressful weeks of my life. As my readers know, the almost weekly sojourn to Los Angeles to care for my ailing mother has been difficult at best. Then adding to that starting any new job is stressful but training on the floor as a barista which include a few shifts that start at 4:15 a.m.; and then this past week, when I had to get mom's apartment completely empty --a physical and emotional task-- and culminating in a wonderful trip this week to Las Vegas and Utah for an amazing, yet intense conference. Whew.

The Tonto:
A couple of months ago, I was contacted by Kris Haley, Special Projects Manager of the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary that is located in Kanab, Utah. One of her immediate pet projects (pun intended!) was to put together a conference retreat at Best Friends that would launch a revolutionary position they were taking on animals and religion. Kris remembered me from my work in having fostered the Animal Kinship Ministry that was at her church in Scottsdale, and she was inviting me to attend to represent Religious Science. Wow. I was touched that she remembered me and flattered that I was to be in attendance with other members of the clergy that covered more than 30 branches of faith. Humbled and grateful, I said I accepted and would clear my calendar to join them in July.

We were flown into Las Vegas and stayed overnight at The Flamingo hotel. We met for an introductory dinner and overview of our stay at Best Friends. Our introductions and our corresponding packet material proved to be an amazing roster of high-profile clergy across the United States; and thanks to web technology, around the globe. The cross section of spiritual representation included Christian, Muslim, Quaker, Jewish, Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, New Thought, Unitarian Universalist,etc. From rabbis to priests to ministers to an imam and several distinguished lay-people.

Simply, our charge was to come together to establish a religious proclamation about animals in the scheme of Life; that would honor and promote their spiritual equality and place in our world. I quivered at the power of this intention and the fact that this was what I had sought to achieve back in 1984 when I founded the Animal Kinship Ministry at the Agape Church of Religious Science (as it was then known) under the aegis of Rev. D. Michael Beckwith. This was for me, literally, a dream come true. And as I peered around from under my tears, I could instantly see that I was not alone. These august colleagues in their own ways, shared my feelings and most likely, my vision and goal.

Best Friends (from this point on, refered to as BF) is the world's largest no-kill animal sanctuary. The Kanab location is over 3,000 acres and nestled in the red hills of Utah (near Zion Park) and is the area known for several famous western films shot in the 30's and 40's including "The Lone Ranger". Hence, the first third of today's title.

Under the guidance of Paul Berry, CEO and founder, Michael Mountain, we accomplished the task and will now spend the next few weeks tweaking and refining the document in preparation for the Summit that will take place in early November of this year.

The details and nuances of this powerful and inspiring conference will be posted as a separate document or blog entry. There is much we are putting together to present to our collective faiths, congregations and cohorts. I am privileged to be one of the spiritual leaders in this collaboration to make this possible on the global as well as the local scale. For now, if you wish to begin orienting yourself to the BF organization you can visit:
www.bestfriends.org
and if you are particularly interested in the spiritual movement, you can join for free at:
http://network.bestfriends.org/religion

Oh and by the way,this was what my grandmother used to call a "Busman's Holiday" as , I learned that the daughter of one of the pastors also works for Starbucks. Christina just turned 18 and has been working there for three months. We spent over an hour talking about working for T.O.G. A. (Temple of the Green Apron) and the subtleties of making those unique beverages. She assures me that I will indeed "get the hang of it" and be whipping up lattes with the best of them.

The Turnblad:
After arriving back in San Diego late afternoon yesterday, I came home and showered, changed clothes and waited for my honey to get home. Don and I have not seen much of each other lately and we decided we go out on a date to re-connect. After dinner, we went to Starbuck's (another facet of my busman's holiday...) and then we went to see the new movie, "Hairspray." It was wonderful! I was familiar with the score from the Broadway version and had seen the John Water's original movie way back when. The choreographer turned director Adam Shankman did a fantastic job of casting, directing and choreoraphing. It has been a lllllong time since I have seen a movie musical that made me dance in my seat. The mostly newcomer young cast is great, especially the actress, Nikki Blonski is a gem. I can only imagine what fun Travolta and Chris Walken had doing their scenes together. However, my most gleeful moment was during the final credits and I was bopping along to the music in my seat, I saw that fellow Fairfax thespian, David Gropman was the Production Designer. David Gropman! I have known for years of his success (he was robbed of the Oscar for his work on "Chocolat") but did not know he was on this crew. I was so proud. Go see this film for the fun of it and applaud loudly for his name at the end.

The other reason I wanted to mention this movie is because of the bigger issue/lesson this film depicts. You mean there is a mainstream movie that has a young, leading ingenue that is neither blonde nor thin?????? And the cute hunky love interest ends up falling for her despite her size? "Hairspray" happily reminded me life and love does not have to be about appearances only and true love comes in all sizes. I don't want to give away too much but for me, I related to the Turnblads in their not fitting (another appropriate pun) in; being different and yet following their hearts and doing the right thing.
I can name that tune in two notes...

The Tony:
Today, was an important day in baseball history. The class of 2007, Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. These two men are the epitome of what baseball is all about and why I love it so. I have enormous respect for how both men showed up to play the game, do their work and extend the honor of baseball in their off-field behavior,too. Of course, I had the added delight that Mr. T is also Mr. Padre and was a huge part of the Padres ball club success. I count myself as a fan. My only regret is that he retired the first year I moved here and I only saw him play for one season. Needless to say, I kept the box of tissues beside me during the ceremony because I got so emotional. And to see all of those earlier inductees there, too. Sandy Koufax! Oh wow...
I asked Don if we could go to Cooperstown for our honeymoon next year and he said yes!