A picture is worth a thousand words…Wish you were here
My mom came to visit this week from her home in Florida. She is adjusting to a new life alone and managing grief. She brought me a book that she made with lots of pictures. Pictures of her and her husband Bill who recently died. Pictures that now serve us to remember a loved one and all the good times. So, I have been thinking about pictures: How pictures can tell a story, capture a person, create a feeling when you look at them, and can inspire, motivate, provoke thought or linger. So I promise to try to tie up these thoughts into a nice neat blog and then we can even tie a fat bow around it and call it done….get the picture?
I also used to have a picture in my old office that was a picture of a dog, riding on a shiny red tricycle that had a cat standing on one foot balancing on the dogs nose and the cat had a tiny mouse standing on its head and the mouse was juggling 5 balls. The caption read “The trick to life is to make it look easy.” I enjoyed that picture but decided not to bring it with me when I joined Metro United Way. Frankly, I have lived long enough now to know…life isn’t really easy. It’s beautiful, surprising, challenging, but really not easy.
Shortly after joining the team here, we hosted our annual campaign silent auction fundraiser for Metro United Way. I saw my new office picture there. It’s a beautiful oil painting on canvas that features a lady staring off at a group of several children who are happily playing in a water fountain. One of the children has small braids all over her head with round colorful barrettes adorning all the braids. This picture titled “Urban Village” is at home on my wall.
As you know, at Metro United Way we work to create the most vital, caring community in the nation. It takes all of us doing our part to connect to friends, family, our neighbors, strangers and the world and to make sure we all have the basic things we need for a good life. That’s what Living United is all about. How do you picture Living United? What will our local community look like for our children and grandchildren? Do you have a picture in mind of a vital, caring community?
To our legion of 80,000 donors who give from their hearts during these challenging times to help their neighbors, co-workers, and people they may never meet: THANK YOU for partnering with Metro United Way to make a difference. If you have never gotten involved with us, then join with us now and together we can help make things better for all of us. We really do wish you were here.