Paul here, I pulled a surprise on Mindy as we left the DC conference on June 13. “Honey” I said, “look what I found in our garage? I thought we could return this in person since we are headed through CT” The ‘what’ was an old 16 mm reel to reel movie of the Dominican Republic that I used when I worked with Save the Children from 1981-86 after my stint in the refugee camps in Somalia June – Dec 1981. Mindy was up for it so we headed through Baltimore MD, skirted around NYC on a sunny afternoon with distant views of America’s megapolis and cruised into Fairfield, CT long after the closing time. Never mind, the door to the professional building was open, we met a gentleman and friend who worked in the building and who knew the Executive Director of Save the Children and said he would explain our visit. We dropped off the film canister with a four page note of explanation.
Just yesterday I received confirmation that our film drop-off was received and SCF (abbreviation for Save the Children) was happy to get the film and convert the film to digital….without the 30 + year fine for being overdue…..Phew!!
I responded by saying that our Frisbee family would start another SCF Auction next year to honor our commitment to our sponsored kids and keeping helping SCF’s important work of self determination and resilient development in the face of our rapidly changing climate. Much like the work that Peace Corps is engaging in. And so my past continues to merge with my present and the linkages of my journey re-connect as our climate calls out for renewed action.
Even before Save the Children, came Paul’s passion for Frisbee and the magic of the flying disc. Where did that start? Good question but many believe it was with the Frisbie Pie Company from Bridgeport, CT had a hand in its beginning, just down the road from Fairfield, CT and the SCF office. A quick email and voice message to long time friend and Frisbee Elder Dan “Stork” Roddick, and he set Mindy and I up with the co-ordinates to the original Frisbee Pie Co factory address in Bridgeport CT, now an empty construction site near a proposed dog racing park. Where are the priorities in our world going? NTL Stork collected a few bricks long ago and I got this lousy, night time photo of a fence and “what used to be here long ago” Oh my, things do change, but the memories remain.
That night we tested out our “perfect fit for the Tesla Model Y mattress” at the I 95 rest stop and spent our first night on the road sleeping soundly as the East Coast traffic hummed by.
The next day we continued our journey to Portland, ME and a brief hello with Peter Dugas, Mindy’s counterpart Regional Director for New England and had lunch with his wife Annie and daughter Thea at the yellow umbrella Middle Eastern falafel restaurant. We learned about Henry Longfellow, before he came to Minneapolis and wrote the Song of Hiawatha poem. There we were again.
Next part was “pure Maine” driving along the ocean with tourist traffic and finally having “enuf” and heading to hwy 9 and a completely isolated road to down east and our friends Paul and Sarah Strictland in Robbinston, ME on the St Croix River across from New Brunswick, CA.
12 years since we had connected in MN and we had a short but sweet two nights and a day mostly with Sarah. Eastport, ME visit and their “Dam” camp that the family has held since 1917, quite a legacy.
Now back to our current day program…
– Paul
LOVE IT! <3