by Marry Wakefield Buxton –
Urbanna, Va.— The annual Urbanna Oyster Festival is behind us for another year. What a relief! They are also gone, the summer people, how we love them . . . but isn’t it grand that the town we love so well can return to some semblance of normalcy and we can enjoy once again what we came here for—a quiet, peaceful home in beautiful rural Virginia with no airplanes, trains, buses, heavy traffic, fast food, tattoo and pawn shops, and hordes of people.
Autumn leaves are freshly fallen on streets and lawns and smell so good. The happy holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, are coming soon along with the first frost. We even look forward to the coming of winter in this idyllic spot on Earth.
First on my list is a big thank-you to all candidates who ran for office in the election this fall. Win or lose, they gave us choices at the polls and we appreciate that as we well know running for public office is no fun and entails hard work and sacrifice.
The sad news is the passing of a beloved past Mayor of Urbanna, Jimmie Williams, who was also a WWII Navy veteran having served in Panama editing a military newspaper during the war. He was a good and kind man with that refreshing air of Baptist humility that we admire so much. We will miss him.
For the last few months I have tried something new—physical therapy. Nobody told me advancing age was going to hurt. Aches and pain in muscles and joints are now a part of life. The Carousel in Hartfield has taught me how exercise, stretching and ice packs can help one deal with arthritis.
The Woman’s Club in Richmond opened their first Monday speaker program in celebration of its 125th year’s anniversary last month with author and past columnist for the NYT, Anna Quinlen. She spoke of her writing career and the act of aging and how we never seem to think anyone our own age is “elderly.” So true!
Part of this phenomena is simply the average age of human life was once 68, thus reaching the 60s at one time was considered “old.” Now, the average age of life expectancy is 82, and 60 year olds are spring chickens!
I asked her if she ever struggled with expressing her opinion in our growingly “politically correct” world and were there some subjects she did not write about.
When she wrote for the NYT she said she stayed off all topics on Israel. She further explained the dilemma writers face is the three different points that society goes through as it “evolves” . . . thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis: All issues start at thesis, then move to antithesis, and finally settle in synthesis. She said society was at an antithesis point at this time.
So! That’s my trouble! Society is at one point but I am not. Yet, isn’t it so the only gift a writer has to give is her own ideas and if her ideas are the same as society’s . . . then what is the value of her writing? So, maybe it’s a good thing I am at a different point than society so there is more exposure to varied opinion in the Sentinel.
Are you staying away from church of late because creeds and dogmas turn you off? If so, you might like to try a Celtic service that is popping up now and then in area Episcopal churches.
I tried my first Celtic service last month at Christ Church and liked it. It was so refreshing to sit in this historical candlelit church at dusk on a Sunday evening, escape the prayer book, listen to Celtic music and just enjoy the silence in the service where I could mull privately over the purpose of human life on Earth and the nature of God’s inspiration to mankind. The service is entirely ecumenical but a conventional communion is offered at the end of the service for those who wish to stay.
I noticed Urbanna United Methodist Church is also offering contemporary services at 11 a.m. on Sundays. I have read that there are now more Americans who are “unchurched” than actual members of a church. These new services are developed to attract those who no longer attend conventional church services and may be the first step to changing those dismal statistics.
I hope so because our society could use a lot more love and forgiveness and just old-fashioned basic kindness as taught in Sunday school so long ago with exposure to the Golden Rule. It seems to me that happiness on Earth can never be achieved without these fundamental values and a life steeped in such behavior. One just can’t get to contentment nursing grudges from the past, disliking one’s neighbor or being unkind to anyone. Or thinking entirely about oneself and one’s own needs while ignoring the needs of others. ©2019
