January 8th, 2015
12 degrees
On my way to take a hot bath, insulated underwear, warm
breakfast, hot chai, pull up medicine ball and start…but first Facebook, yes, I
am entangled. I love my buds!
Okay, so here we are….hmmm.
The first thing I did this morning was open the front door,
let the dog out after rubbing her butt as she does downward facing dog, step
out to check the chill, pick up her metal water bowl, frozen all the way to the
bottom. I run hot water and put the bowl face down and hear a clunk. A perfect
round disc falls into the sink. Beautiful. I play with the warm water and watch
the shape morph into a slimming disk, and finally a slender, clear ring and
then nothing. An empty bowl. I think of Charlotte. Our city.
I watch as our city morphs. Every day, I read the newspaper at my breakfast table. Every Saturday I read the Business Journal and save certain articles. I read the names, the buildings, the parts of the city, the money, the partnerships, the companies, the interviews, the comments, the justifications, the mergers, the acquisitions, the ideas, the movement, and then I drive out Sardis and into town. So much is being cleared and removed…and it happens so fast, did I miss something or is all of this going on at night?
I watch as our city morphs. Every day, I read the newspaper at my breakfast table. Every Saturday I read the Business Journal and save certain articles. I read the names, the buildings, the parts of the city, the money, the partnerships, the companies, the interviews, the comments, the justifications, the mergers, the acquisitions, the ideas, the movement, and then I drive out Sardis and into town. So much is being cleared and removed…and it happens so fast, did I miss something or is all of this going on at night?
What else is going on that I cannot see?
I read the article and see the picture of the homeless woman
sitting on a bench in Uptown…I gasp because I think, Oh, God, are “they” moving
her out again? But no, the city and others have taken a stance that we will be
done with homelessness in two years. People are coming together, banks are
chipping in, organizations and departments will be assessing and going out to
find that population and money will be budgeted to build homes, apartments, shelter
for 450 people. Many voices. A robust chorus. A great idea, long overdue. Then
crashing down around my morning quiet comes the great shadow wing of the Great Recession.
Too many people, changing cash, developing plans, who is in charge? Who is watching?
Who will be short shifted? Who will find out? Before it happens? While the
program is underway? When we are supposed to be finished but the money has
dwindled, the bones were not strong. Can we depend on this project to come to
fruition? Can we?
