It's been years since I've been in school ... but still, every fall I fantasize about running out and buying school supplies: New notebooks, crayons with their still-sharp points and lovely names (ah, the Burnt Sienna and Spring Green of my youth!), bright shiny new pens ... and, oh joy, clean erasers, as yet unused and pristine. And rulers, and protractors ... what bliss!
I was lucky to grow up in a home where we could afford these basic little pleasures and tools. Today, it's not so much the objects themselves that I still crave, but what they represent - the wonderful freshness of new ideas, new hopes, new possibilities, things yet unlearned, beckoning to us with so much promise. It's the questions
whispering around those stacks of notebooks and pens and 
pencils that thrill me: What will I learn this year? What will I become? What will I discover fresh in myself? What will I achieve that I didn't think I could? What ideas and stories and people will call to me and draw me more deeply into the common life we share?
So how about you? It's almost "Back to School" time at UUCF, and I don't mean just for our children and youth. I hope this year at UUCF
you will find some fresh new ways to grow, connect and serve with us. Think about it: What is feeling fresh in your life as fall approaches? What are you excited about? What do you want to learn? How do you want to challenge yourself? Our big Ingathering Weekend is coming up in less than a month, Sep. 7-8, and I hope you'll show up ready to learn and engage and grow in new ways.
Things are definitely sprucing up around our campus as we do our own version of back-to-school preparations. You've already seen the beautiful new blue chair covers, and maybe even helped out with the refurbishing (to all our volunteers - we thank you!). We're going to be painting and re-carpeting in the Sanctuary Building too - a little physical freshening-up to freshen up our spirits. I can't wait to start using the new technology pieces that you'll start to see over the course of the fall. And we're starting to work on spiffing up the physical spaces of our program building too.
This fall we have some fun and exciting changes coming to our educational programs as well. You've probably heard about the
new workshop model we're introducing in our children's program on Saturdays and at 11:15 a.m. on Sundays. Our Director of Religious Exploration Linnea Nelson and the RE Committee have just been pioneers on this. And stay tuned for the launch of a new online educational resource I'm working on: Every month we'll have a whole section of our website devoted to exploring our UUCF monthly themes, with your ideas and contributions welcome. There's lots of fresh energy at UUCF these days ... and, yes, some new crayons and pens and pencils too.
So, see you in September! I'll be ready to learn and I hope you will be too. I'm heading out now for a few days of late-summer vacation - John and I are doing a Midwestern road trip back to Chicago (John's hometown) and Minneapolis (mine). I'm looking forward to seeing my parents and catching up with old friends. And we are very excited that John's mom, Fran, is coming back with us for a week-long Virginia visit. I hope to get to introduce you when she visits UUCF!
Warmly,
Laura
P.S. It's not too late to
contribute to school-supply collections at UUCF! Right now our ESOL teachers are collecting gently used binders for their students; contact
Gladys Henrikson or
Lily Reider.
And you can still donate to help Beacon House kids get school supplies for the fall. For more information on donating or volunteer opportunities, contact
Gerry Kittner. Beacon House is a UU-founded non-profit, after-school tutoring, mentoring, cultural, athletic and nutritional program for low-income, at-risk children and youth based in Northeast Washington, DC, long supported by UUCF members.
