Hey there, how are you? Happy to see you (well, in the virtual sense). I don’t know how you arrived here, but if I can get you a cup of coffee, I’ll tell you how I found myself here at this intersection of blog and life.
I’m 53 and started this blog as a way to celebrate my 50th year. I had the opportunity to go to India that year, which was life changing…I knew it would be. So the blog started with that trip, and then I just kept on going.
I’m a mom of two fabulous daughters…Kate is 23 and an artist in Vancouver, BC. Alex 17 and preparing to launch into her next adventure as she finishes her senior year of high school. I’ve been married to Steve forever (calculator years….we need one to remember, but it was 1979 and in Chico’s Bidwell Park). Steve and I have a design studio in Davis, CA, and our careers are in their second lives (as is the studio).
My life is transitioning and blogging seems to center me while I figure out what’s next. I have a few of them…the blog for our design studio is re:design, and I have a collaborative coffee blog, coffee|served daily. I ponder words, the world, and what’s up with the people who puzzle me. Really, I’m just trying to find the small story in each day.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll stay a bit and say hi.
thank you so much for the card. you are amazing kim, the way you take life by the reins………motherhood is wonderful! madi, joya and natalya are my little angels. have a great time in india. i can’t wait to go there, should be in the next year. my friend is there right now trying to establish fair trade practices.
all my love to you and the family,
shaena
i am typing one handed so i can nurse little taly!
I am so happy for you. For all your moves and grooves.
And really happy you’re doing the blog.
Keep us all posted.
kb
Hi Kim: I visited and read your Blog. I can see how this trip to India has helped you to experience so much of Life around. We do go through Life, pass by each other without noticing much. Sometimes so quickly that it feels unreal like a movie camera that pans the changing frames. But this trip zoomed close enough to illuminate many ambiguties. I like when you mentioned the feeling of Humility. That is all left at the end of the day to retire with. Humility & Gratitude to resolve all the Whys, Hows & Whens of Life amidst the personal chaos!
It was also my good fortune to have the chance to meet a soul like you. Sometimes it is important to trust Life! It does show up to make you belong to it, trust it deeply.
Take care and live this Life as long as it lasts!
I am here whenever you need me.
Dear Kim,
My name is Sue Tennant and I live part of the week in Toronto to work on FreeSchools World Literacy(www.freeschools.org). The other part I live at our Corporate Retreat Centre two hours north (www.silverspringsretreat.com.)
I subscribe to google alerts for “Bihar” and was fascinated this morning to read your post about your experiences in India, and particularly in and around Patna. I recognized my two friends Sunil and Ramesh, who also work for an NGO in Bettiah, West Champaran District., a place I visit frequently. We support a string of 41 FreeSchools from Patna, through Muzzfarpur, Motihari and Bettiah.
You write so well and it was gratifying to have someone express such emotion in response to the incredible poverty and plight of women in Bihar. I have had moments (more like a whole day)where I couldn’t cope, and other times when I wished I could live there to help people day-to-day. But I have fallen in love with the children and am hardening myself to the extreme deprivation. You are right, it doesn’t take much on our part to make a big difference in their lives. Our donors can support an entire school for just $1500/year. We have no paid staff in Canada – only a few volunteers. All the money we raise goes directly to the field. We probably won’t be able to sustain this model indefinitely as we have opened a total of 67 FreeSchools in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and among the Hill Tribes in northern Thailand. But for now a school, business or family can adopt a school for a year for just $125/month and know that every rupee goes directly to the literacy cause in Bihar. Only education can help these people escape the grinding poverty.
Anyway, I just felt a bond with you because there are not many people in the west who have experienced village life in Bihar! Sue
This is a random note, but you seem like the type of person who would like this story.
A month or so ago (I guess it was around Father’s Day) I happened to see a piece (on Oprah, I think, or something similar) about a dad, Matt Logelin, and his crazy, sad story of losing his wife the day after his daughter was born. Since then I’ve been trekking back over to his blog every so often to read his story in bits at a time (it’s amazing, but also makes me very sad and I can only take so much). Today, I was reading the comments for his blog from 5/27/2008 and there you were, kim from the davis. This struck me as odd because up until a week and a half ago, *I* was kim from the davis. So I followed a link over to this page and discovered that in this great, wide world, two Kims from the same small town in Northern California had ended up on the same inspiring site. I moved to Walnut Creek about 10 days ago and it was a treat to unexpectedly see pictures of little old Davis, where I had lived for 8 years and which I am missing quite a bit. Thank you for providing such a random moment in my day!
Hi Kim! I’m excited to be following you and to see what comes next