At the beginning of morning gathering this morning a participant at Fest who is a Physician's Assistant shared that we have two people here who have confirmed Covid. We were encouraged to test if we have any symptoms, to wear masks and to wash our hands often. I am being way more careful.
Kathy Guisewite was the storyteller/poet at this morning's gathering. She is also one of my cabin mates. Kathy has creativity pouring out of every pore. Her voice and her words invite me to fall back in the safety of her storytelling. She was paired with Jeffrey and Jenny, who bring an amazing combination of spirituality, depth and fun.
Instead of going to a workshop today I headed into Eldora to do my laundry. I have now been gone for eight days and I was running out of underwear. I didn't want to wash anything in the sink because the sinks are surrounded with dead bugs. I am so not a camper! I paid $4 to wash and $1.50 to dry. "Wow!" is all I can say. I think if you really want to know a community you should go to the laundromat during the county fair.
I was back in time for lunch and had a delightful visit with Jim Lehman. We ate outside and stayed after the meal to talk about Brethren Volunteer Service; storytelling; and what happens when you lose a soulmate. It was a rich conversation. The chance to have profound conversations is another reason I love Fest.
I spent much of the afternoon memorizing my story for tonight's campfire. I was sitting under the shade of a tree and I kept hearing music around the corner. I found Jenny teaching Clara (one of my favorite human beings) how to play "I'll Fly Away" on Jenny's accordion, which she has named Delores.
It threatened rain all day and the weather app said we should expect rain around 6-7 p.m. I really didn't want to have indoor campfire on the night I tell the story. They set up campfire outside. Greg and Rhonda did the music. Carrie Fry-Miller sang a song she wrote about boogers and toilet paper and then told the children a story. I was very excited about my story for campfire. It was based on a true story told to me by a woman I became email friends with during the pandemic. It is amazing how the time of isolation helped create new friendships. The story includes a head-on collision, Gideon Bibles, a fire and cash. I asked her permission to write the story with some adaptations. She gave me carte blanche permission, for which I was deeply grateful. After I wrote it I sent it to my son and he wrote back that he loved it. He told me that it was in the genre of Coen brothers. I thought that was a huge compliment. I titled it In God We Trust.
When I told it, I could tell I had people with me. They became more and more quiet as the story progressed. It isn't a story that ties up in a neat bow. When I sat down Greg and Rhonda played and sang the song Money, Money, Money originally performed by Abba. Then they transitioned into a song they had written called Treasures. It was the perfect ending for what I did. However, I could tell that Coen Brothers is not the usual genre for the Fest. I had several people tell me that I ended the story too soon. I told them I told them a true story and they needed to chew on what happened. Besides, if I had cleaned it up for them it would not have had the same impact.
We moved under a large tent for the late night concert. Good thing because it began to steadily rain. Peg Lehman and Shawn Kirchner were the musicians for the concert. Shawn grew up in Iowa and this was the church camp he came to as a child and youth. There was a fairly large Iowa contingent that came just for the concert. His father came and that was sweet. I sat behind his dad in the tent so I got to watch him smile with pride and sing along at times. Shawn has an ability get a group fully involved in music. He brings a winsome, soulful joy in that kind of space. At the end of the concert his father went up to the mic and said, "I love the devil out of this child and I have tried to put a little more devil into him."
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