i don't have the stomach for this

One of my morning rituals is to listen to The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor, which plays at the end of Morning Edition on WGBH, one of our local NPR stations. Each day, he makes note of significant birthdays in the literary world and then reads a poem. He closes each segment by saying, "Be well, do good work, and stay in touch."

Today's poem was one by Robert Frost:

Tonight at church we face a different kind of time to talk. This is the night of the big meeting with the mediator. The phone and email chatter has grown quiet over the last several days; I'm not sure anyone knows quite what to expect.

Normally, I do not know of an emotion that does not make me want to eat. If I'm elated, I can think of no better way to celebrate than with a meal. If I'm depressed, I can bang my way through a bag of Cape Cod Sea Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips without even blinking. This week has been different. Whatever I have eaten seems determined to work it's way out of my body as though it was competing for a medal.

I am finding little comfort in food.

One of the working theories of my life is we could work most anything out if we could sit down and discuss it over a meal. If you need to ask someone to pass the potatoes, you're going to have to figure out a way to talk about other stuff as well. Therefore, I'm a bit weary of a meeting that makes it difficult for me to even think about eating. How are we going to break down the walls that need to be broken down so we can create a time to talk -- and listen?

I wish I had an answer to that question going into the meeting tonight.

How I hope we could get to the end of the time tonight and have found enough healing for someone to say, "You want to grab a bite to eat?"

Peace,
Milton

PS -- As you can see from the format change, I'm trying to learn a bit more about HTML and setting up the blog the way I want it to look. Since Ginger and I live in Green Harbor, just 600 feet from Cape Cod Bay, this template seemed appropriate.