susannefortune

Badminton – check.  Bocce ball – check.  Corn Hole – check.  Big Volleyball – check.  Beer Pong – check.

Here I am in 1959, in a Cross Plains (Indiana) Elementary School picture wearing my mother’s locket and of course glasses.
Today I am all grown up, sort of.  I am meeting my 4 brothers, my sisters-in-law, their children, their grandchildren, 2 out of 3 of my children in Nashville, Tennessee.  We are here for the (bi-annual) Copeland Family Reunion.   My brother who lives here is hosting us, a backyard family weekend catching up and making memories.

Looking good Laura, green beans picked from your garden?  I’m impressed.

I’m a mediator, team builder, strategic conversationalist, leadership developer, a generator of growth, conflict coach, peacemaker, creator of trust, process designer, change manager, organizational developer, dialogue facilitator, inspire the spirit of people, address issues of the heart.  I’m a project manager/worker.

This two month project is coming to an end, evidence-based.   I typically work with people to get the job done!!  In this case trees, plants, the environment with the same above skills and hard work.

Guess what?  I’m glad and ready to move to my next project.  I started to say, call me for a good time.  Well that too, but call me if you have a project and people within who need a project manager/worker to help get the job done.  Let’s talk.

Yesterday morning going to the pool, this blast from my past just appeared.  This ’65 or ’66 GTO reminded me of a high school crush of mine, his name was Roger Reid.  He drove a red GTO.  It was hot and I felt the same about him.

In preparation for the planting of new Crape Myrtle Trees, Mark and I started digging out these dying uprooted trees last Tuesday morning.   Stay tune, the story has a happy ending.

Meet Paula and Carol, not exactly new friends but friends that are becoming closer friends.  Know what I mean?  It takes time to have friends, time to meet and to get to know each other.  Yesterday Paula invited us over to her home to watch a movie, in the afternoon!!!  It was great. 
I mean it was really awesome, the friends part, the movie part. the casual and meaningful  conversation part.  Know what I mean?

Please forgive me for starring.  My friend Paula grows this most magnificent flower and I can’t get it off my mind.  I loved going to her home, being in her garden, smelling the fragrances, hearing these scientific names, learning.  Thunbergia was a fav.  Oh my….you have to see this trumpet-like flower, the vivid colors, the perfection of the show of beauty.
The yellow is at the base of the trumpet and I swear the yellow lights up! 

You have to look close to find the 5 or 6 little cherry tomatoes.  I found them this morning in my 4′ x 4′.  They are my first fruits.  Remember the verse in Exodus 23:16?   One of the three annual festivals was the Feast of the Harvest, celebrating the first in a sacrifice by giving it away.  
True confession, I wanted to pop those little sweeties asap, but here I go to my neighbor’s house.  Guess that is another verse!!

This is Kyle, it is around noon, 90 degrees, assistant director of lighting, on a ladder, in a constructed black tent to create darkness on set in the dining room.  Kyle is outside the dining room window, there to create darkness AND a flash of lightening at just the right time.  Kyle’s sit-up is in a bed of hydrangeas and being very sensitive to my landscape.  Thank you Kyle. 
What a long day, 6:00 am – 8:00 pm, the heart and passion film makers have for their love of the craft.  Kyle loves giffing, I think that is what he called it.  It is everything about the electrical environment of preparation and film making, lighting, etc.
What a pleasure to meet these gifted and talented young people.