One of many great conversations…
Upon landing in Indianapolis on Sunday October 21st, the incredible week of welcome, invitation, hospitality, learning, conversation, openness and storytelling began. Greeted by old friends, Caitlin and April, along with new friends Amara and Anna, the journey began with bright eyes and open hearts. Continue reading
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Who is Welcome?
Waddie Welcome
If you haven’t heard about Waddie Welcome, please have a look here www.waddiewelcome.com to find out more. Readings of Mr. Welcome’s story have been done all over the world, and I have participated in a couple as well as setting a few up. The story is a brilliant one to start conversations about hope, possibility, community, and ‘people power’. It can also be a great one to challenge negative assumptions or low expectations of people who have disabilities.
An invitation… Continue reading
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Joy’s suggestion box…
I have the pleasure of collaborating with amazing people from all over the world. We all share the desire to understand our communities in ways that will enrich our lives and the lives of our neighbors. Today I’d like to introduce you to Joy Boe, someone I don’t travel far to collaborate with. Continue reading
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As I have mentioned in previous posts, it is three years ago since my partner and I moved to a little village ten miles outside Edinburgh. Prior to that I had nearly always lived in cities or large towns, in easy commutable distances of friends who lived in other parts of the same city. I liked it when local shopkeepers recognised me, or when a neighbour knew my name, but to be honest – I wasn’t really that worried about ‘belonging’ to my neighbourhood. I had lots of friends. Why bother?
When we moved to Ratho, I could not believe that our next door neighbours came straight round to introduce themselves and bring us a bottle of wine. They said, “You won’t have any plates unpacked – can we go and buy you some fish and chips for your dinner?”. We got to know the neighbours on either side of us really quite well, really quite quickly. We starting taking up invitations to go in to their houses for a cup of tea or a glass of wine, leaving gifts on the fence post for one another, feeding their cats when they went on holiday.
This is where I belong
For the first few months, Continue reading
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My family…
I get swept away easily in my work, day to day life and my passion for understanding this longing for connection and connecting between people in the community. What I must be mindful of always, is that the most important connections we have are with those closest to us…our families. In my case, it is a ‘typical’ family, a beautiful wife Jody, amazing daughter Rhiannon, hilarious son Kade and my unborn baby Eliot (due in February). For others, family may not look like this ‘typical’ set up, as their exists countless, beautifully diverse variations on what makes a family. Everyone knows who there family is, however, and it is paramount that we are connected with them, appreciate them and love them for all they are and do for us. Continue reading
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Come In From The Cold 