“Hundreds attend the funeral of someone they didn’t even know.”
I love this story! Harold Jellicoe Percival was in the Royal Air Force in England and served during WWII. He died recently at age 99. And since he never married or had children, the only expected attendee of the service was a nephew. However, the funeral home hosting the service put an advertisement in the paper, inviting other veterans to come and honor his life. Over 400 people ended up attending though when the post went viral on social media. There were so many people there, in fact, that most couldn’t fit in the chapel and had to stand outside in the rain while the service was going on. (Link here for more on the BBC story.) Listening to the newsflash about the memorial service I was struck by curiosity about why so many people who didn’t even know him attended. Yes, he was a veteran. As ground crew he inspected and repaired planes that flew over France during battles. He had not been decorated a hero. There was no autobiography making him famous, no site named after him. People came, simply to honor a man who served. To me it feels like people rarely pay attention to individual stories unless they have had a direct and tangible impact on their own life. We are grateful, I think, for holidays, like Veterans’ Day or Memorial Day, when we can pay this tribute. But then again… I wonder how many people spent their Veterans Day yesterday doing something other than watching football or going bowling (the two things we ended up doing with our day.) I think this is why this overheard was so immediately heart warming for me. I realized, in thinking about this memorial service attended by so many, that each life story deserves to be told and honored. Deserves, if nothing else, an a tweetable epitaph. Mr. Percival knew how to fix engines and fight the Nazis. He loved cricket. Nomadic by nature, he carried a backpack to travel. #tweetpitaph I am so glad to see that, in this case, Mr. Harold Percival was honored with far more than 140 characters. Is there anyone you would like to honor with a tweetpitaph? Did you do anything special to honor Veterans’ Day? I love to hear from my blog readers. And to prove it, I am donating $10 to the non-political charity of one lucky commenter this month. Leave a comment for any of my blogs, and then check back at the end of the month to see if your name was drawn.
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“If he is English he would ask for second flush Darjeeling to show he knows what he is talking about.”
My recent revisions to Molto Mayhem have led my main characters to a tea salon in Salerno so I have found myself in need of tea facts. For date night this weekend then, my husband and I found ourselves at Tao of Tea, a tea house in Portland. After enjoying a lovely cup of relaxing and rejuvenating Ayurvedic tea blend called Vata-Dosha,we proceeded next door to the loose tea shop and were fortunate enough to encounter a wonderfully knowledgeable salesperson, Claudia. Rather than make me feel like a bother for asking my myriad of tea questions, she seemed to jump right into the adventure, somehow nailing my hero’s character without me even describing him. Indeed, Aiden would have been thrilled to show off his tea knowledge and supreme Bristishness for Lucia. Research like this is one of the reasons I adore writing. Later I asked my husband if the topic were interesting to him (rather than enduring my botanical tea information overload) he would ever enjoy this aspect of writing. I have tried for a while to convince him to write…. But have come to the conclusion that this happens only when someone is ready. Still, I’m not against a little persuasion, and this aspect of writing is often hidden from aspiring authors. My characters have led me on many strange and wonderful journeys. I have paced the parking lot of an airport, written words in the sand at a beach, re-created a recipe of sardines and rare roast beef on grilled bread, chatted online with football fans about kicker training regimens, and spoken with grief counselors, along this journey. Along the way I have discovered things I never knew about each of these subjects or environments. Of course my favorite research is when I get to visit some of my most beloved places, like my trip to Montalcino, Italy. It is the subjects I am not expecting to learn about, though, that have the strongest impact on me and also end up being the ones that strengthen and bind my stories. In this case I never expected to find myself researching Hippocrates theory of the Four Humors of the body; never expected it would lead to learning more than I ever wanted to know about Culpepper’s herbal remedies; and certainly never imagined I would discover a tea blend, Vata-Dosha, which would, indeed, allow me a whole day of lightness, creativity and contentment with my daughter. Do you have a favorite tea? Is it for taste or healing aspect? I’d love to hear all about it, so leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Happy Journeys - Deanne |
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June 2020
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