The last week of July I experienced the most amazing week at the Unitarian
Universalist Mid-Atlantic Conference. I can't wait for next year! I’m a new
Unitarian Universalist and, admittedly, everything about it is new and exciting.
Still, UUMAC was nearly Utopia: 240 people getting along, sharing, and caring,
and having a great time doing it. It's the way I would envision a perfect world
to be.
I roomed with Sharon, the president of my congregation. I was happy she was my roomie because I got to know her better. She's usually so busy at Sunday
services that she has little time for deep and lengthy chitchat. She was UUMAC
treasurer for the two years before this one. But this year she learned to say no
and just relax, apparently a big step for her! She helped me figure out how
things worked and where the various buildings were on campus. That got me into
the swing and by Tuesday I was able to branch out on my own and have a wonderful
time, meeting new people, attending services and workshops, and eventually
finding my way back to the cafeteria or the dorm.
Three others from my congregation (Charlotte, Josie, and Erinn) were busy
working at UUMAC. They were each a whir of activity, taking photos, teaching
children, writing daily newsletter articles, registering people, and keeping
things running smoothly. Erinn had some help in the form of her faithful
companion, Ava, her Golden Retriever you might have seen at services.
The spirit of camaraderie and participation is infectious: I've offered to work
an hour per day at next year's UUMAC at which the theme is "To Be is To Become:
Process Philosophy for Spiritual Practice and Faithful Action."
I met such wonderful people at UUMAC. I had a Mystery Pal
with whom I exchanged small gifts and notes or letters during the week. He is a
9-year-old boy who is a budding magician, artist, guitar and piano player, whose
favorite color is green and who enjoys geography, social studies, math and
science. Among our daily gifts to each other, I gave him a harmonica, magic
markers and a book on juggling; He gave me a magic tricks kit, Milk Duds, M&M
note pad, and a sun visor. I learned a magic trick from my kit where I can make
a ball disappear and reappear...like magic. My pal wrote that as one of his
tricks he can push a salt/pepper shaker through a table! I'd love to see that.
By the time we figured out who our secret pal was, it was time to go. Awww. I
would have enjoyed playing guitars with him or seeing him do his magic. He now
lives in Texas, but his family loves UUMAC so
much that they drive to Pennsylvania
each year. This interaction with him released me from something terrible I
learned about myself: that I had begun to ignore children, really didn't see
them as people, and was basically not at all interested in them. Learning that
there are 9-year-olds who share the same interests as I do was an eye-opening,
spiritually enlightening lesson.
There were so many kids' activities, and UU people are devoted to kids in such a
happy, wonderful way. The adage that "it takes a village to raise a child" is
really put into practice in this community. The kids put on a talent show which
was funny and wonderful, and they contributed to the fun of UUMAC in many ways.
Having learned what I did about my negative attitude that children were
alien-beings, I can attest to the truth that Reverend Lisa Ward, minister of the
Harford County UU congregation, and Reverend Clare Petersberger, minister of the
Towson Unitarian Church, taught during one of the UUMAC services: “it
takes a child to raise a village.”
I've never seen such confident, happy children! They, as well as the adults, are
able to try new things in the secure UUMAC domain without the possibility of
failure or ridicule, then take that confidence to their outside lives, even
though they know the outside world is not as accepting. One 15-year-old girl did
everything from Cher impersonations to an
auctioneering Vanna White; she was funny and adorable with amazing stage
presence, and wants to become a teacher (although I think she should be an
actress or a stand-up comedian with all that talent). There was a young teen boy
wearing a pink T-shirt with a list printed on it about “why I wear pink.” Score
one for challenging those stereotypes! A young teen girl with beautiful red hair
read tarot cards at our barbeque; she did an excellent job and revealed (without
ever having met me before) the focuses of both my hobby and my profession.
Spooky!
The mid-elementary kids built a lemonade stand out of cardboard boxes, which
they painted and decorated. Ever the UU recyclers, they then reused the stand
for their skit in the showcase later in the week. All the donations made
for lemonade were earmarked for the amazing group called Seeds of Peace. Here’s
an excerpt from their web site
http://www.seedsofpeace.org/about:
Seeds of Peace has focused primarily on bringing Arab and Israeli teenagers
together before fear, mistrust and prejudice blind them from seeing the human
face of their enemy. Seeds of Peace goes beyond international agreements and
treaties. It reverses the legacy of hatred by nurturing lasting friendships that
become the basis for mutual understanding and respect. By training these young
leaders in conflict resolution skills, Seeds of Peace helps them become the
seeds from which an enduring peace will grow.
The food at UUMAC was surprisingly wonderful. Each meal offered a vegetarian
selection as well as various meat dishes. There was a soft yogurt machine that I
saw way too much of because it offered not only vanilla and chocolate flavors
but peanut butter, too. For cafeteria style food, it was truly good. The chicken
cordon bleu was exceptional. There was a salad bar and a pasta bar and a dessert
bar every night. Free soda refills caused me to develop a new appreciation for
root beer, and Sharon
renewed her appreciation for root beer/ice cream floats.
On the last night of UUMAC, I discovered three other women guitar players; two
are from Maryland
and we'll be getting together once a month for a little musical reunion. One
lives in Abingdon and the other in
Bowie, so we have a sort of golden triangle formed in the
state.
I've never seen people of all age groups interacting so effortlessly with one
another. UUMAC prides itself on being an intentional intergenerational
community; attendees this year ranged in age from toddlers to 92 years old.
There was just no possibility of failure, nothing to be ashamed of, no matter
what the undertaking; whatever anyone did was greeted with warmth and support.
It was the most genuinely Grace-full experience I've ever had. There was never a
disparaging word, and I never saw a single child crying or whining. Maybe I was
just in the right place at the right time.
One evening I led a "dream analysis" mini-workshop. One of the seven attendees
was a psychiatrist from Virginia,
who said she'd learned some insightful things that would help her in her
practice. She contributed quite a lot to our little group, always validating
things I was teaching. Ordinarily you'd expect a psychiatrist would have had
nothing but criticism for a lay person's attempts at dream analysis, but she was
nothing but supportive, and became my buddy. I gave her Advil one night after
she'd overdone it at the yoga workshop. We were partners in a square dance and
ate a couple of meals together. At UUMAC, you never eat alone!
At night, everyone met in the community building (as opposed to the various
dormitory buildings we were staying in) to do whatever we liked, including some
organized activities. There's a private wing just for the kids which they call
The Dog Pound. It has two pool tables, foosball table, ping pong table, a
jukebox, several sofas and conversation areas and multiple games. Also in the
common area were stacks of games and toys and puzzles for the kids of all ages
to play with. Sometimes kids would be spread out on the floor engrossed in their
games, and we would just have to step over them and their toys. No problem.
One night all the tweens got to sleep outside under the stars. The teens had
their area, and the younger ones another area lighted with torches. There are
always one or more supervising adults who fade into the background or act enough
like kids themselves that the kids don't mind their participation. In fact
there's a real intergenerational community where age doesn't seem to block
relationships from forming.
One of my new friends from UUMAC is from
Long Island, NY. She
attended the week-long, fused glass, jewelry-making workshop and made some
gorgeous jewelry pieces including a matching necklace and earrings. UUs are so
talented! She'll be coming to visit me at home sometime soon when she visits her
grown son in Baltimore.
At the painting workshop I attended I learned that I still do not like
watercolors. (Sorry, Jane!) Give me oils or acrylics. Those watercolors are just
too unpredictable.
Besides outside excursions to water parks, amusement parks, art galleries,
berry-picking, and river rafting, there was one day when the blood mobile came
by and many UUMACers donated blood. I adore the community consciousness of UUs!
On Friday night there was a "showcase" where the paintings and jewelry made
during the week were displayed and the various workshop attendees shared with
the audience what they'd studied, learned and accomplished. With that, we each
had the opportunity to learn something about the workshops we hadn’t attended.
I called my husband one night and told him about the things I'd been doing.
After a moment of silence, he said, "You're never coming home, are you?!!"
