"I'm Paying."

Said the dark-eyed, dark-skinned woman. I had stopped into the bakery on the fly to see if perchance a savoury pie or two might be available for supper. There were three in the case which was very unusual so late in the day. I asked for two, when ordinarily I might have taken all three, but that seemed greedy under the circumstances. In a flashback I remembered telling kids, "Take only what you need". Standing shoulder to shoulder with me, the stranger said:"I do this all the time". You'll do it for the next person". She said this with full confidence.

I hoped to remember the next time the queue was long and somebody like me was waiting as I had for this woman to get finished. When she first turned toward me she asked, "Do you know what you want"? I thought she had sensed my growing impatience. "Take your time", I said shrugging off the moment. I was not in any particular hurry, but when it comes to waiting in lines, I often walk away instead. But, having spied the pies, I was willing to stand there while she asked about the various ingredients in different pastries. I secretly hoped she would not order those three pies having already claimed them mentally as my next meal. She broke into my thoughts when she said, "Go ahead and order. I'm paying for yours". "Are you sure?" I asked a little incredulously. I recalled my daughter telling me that she and her friend had had a similar experience at a drive through cafe. She waved thank you to the man in the car behind hers and drove away smiling. It happens!

The woman handed me two fresh-baked pies and said: Merry Christmas!

As much as I dislike hearing that overused and overworn: "I appreciate you", that's what genuinely came out of my mouth as I walked off with something warm in my hands and in my heart. That feeling lasted all the way home until I shared the encounter and the pies with my husband. We thanked her together in our grace for our "free" meal. It mattered! Not because I was hungry, but because she offered a stranger, another person walking through this world with her, something from the kindness of her heart. I wish I had been the one to do so. Next time!

Do you have an experience you want to share? Please write in the comment box.

The more the merrier!

All Shall Be Well Women's Pilgrimage

The theme for the 2025 pilgrimage is hope! 

May 5 - 12, 2025

Lady Julian of Norwich, England

a UNESCO City of Literature

We need hope more than ever these days. Lady Julian of Norwich who lived in the Dark Middle Ages amidst plagues, wars, and an oppressive Church is the right woman for our own times. She defied all odds as the quintessential insider/outsider in her 14th Century village. At age fifty she moved into an Anchorage (a small room) attached to St. Julian's Church. She spoke a hopeful message from her window while the Church preached doom from the pulpit. She spoke about God as mother and love. She became the first woman to write a book in the English language, still in print today. She continues to inspire us in her oft quoted mantra: "All shall be well".

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julian-of-Norwich

On Pilgrimage

We will join the "Friends of Julian" for their Festival Days to celebrate Julian of Norwich’s Feast Day. Keynote speaker, Author Dr. Hetta Howes Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife:The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women

 https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/articles/interviews/although-they-were-living-hundreds-of-years-ago-these-women-were-in-many-ways-just-like-us/

https://www.julianshrine.org/visit/

We will stay next door to Julian’s Anchorage in All Hallow's Guesthouse which serves daily breakfast fresh from a farmer's market in operation since the 11th century. 

https://www.allhallowsnorwich.co.uk/

We will attend services in the anchorage shrine to celebrate Julians’ Feast Day.

We will attend Norwich Cathedral Evensong, a glorious place to hear the lovely young choristers from the Cathedral School. 

We will walk the large labyrinth within the cloister and have lunch at the refectory. 

We will have a personal tour with the librarian at the Cathedral Library to see some of their precious holdings like Queen Victoria's Bible! 

https://cathedral.org.uk/

We will take a train from Norwich to the British Library in London to see Julian's hand-written manuscripts of Divine Love from the 14th century and visit the Treasures Gallery.

 https://www.bl.uk/

We will take a day trip with the Vicar of St. Julian's Church to the Shrine of Mary of Walsingham, lovely in May.

 https://www.walsinghamanglican.org.uk/

We will take a tour of the National Writing Center’s DragonHall.

 https://nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/    

Optional day trips: University of East Anglia’s Sainsbury Art Center and Ely Cathedral, as time permits.

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You will have free time daily on your own to explore the Fourteenth Century walking city of Norwich.

https://www.visitnorwich.co.uk/

Each day we will share one meal together. Breakfast is provided and taken on your own, other meals are paid for individually.

Some evenings, a local poet/author and Julian scholar will join us in the cozy parlor for shared writing, reading and reflections.

Space is limited to six women in single rooms. Rooms are private (unless you want a roommate); three full hall bathrooms are shared. Innkeeper (a Medieval Studies Scholar) is on the premises at all times.  https://www.allhallowsnorwich.co.uk/

$1,200 Approximate Pilgrimage Cost (plus your own transportation arrangements including airfare). (Payable in two installments) 

$1,000 Early bird special price through January.

 (Payable in two installments)

NOTE: All transportation arrangements to and from Norwich are your responsibility.

Pilgrimage Leader: Charlene Vincent  has led groups to England and Thailand. Prior to leaving on pilgrimage, we will get to know one another in monthly group Zoom meetings. We will hear Julian of Norwich’s story and what makes a pilgrimage a pilgrimage. Required reading: The Art of Pilgrimage The Seeker’s Guide to Making Travel Sacred by Phil Cousineau.

Email to inquire:

cmlvincent@gmail.com 

Subject: 2025 Norwich pilgrimage

Music for the Ages

Come gather ’round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You’ll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you is worth savin’

Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin’

Come writers and critics

Who prophesize with your pen

And keep your eyes wide

The chance won’t come again

And don’t speak too soon

For the wheel’s still in spin

And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’

For the loser now will be later to win

For the times they are a-changin’

Come senators, congressmen

Please heed the call

Don’t stand in the doorway

Don’t block up the hall

For he that gets hurt

Will be he who has stalled

There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’

It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls

For the times they are a-changin’

Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don’t criticize

What you can’t understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly agin’

Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin’

The line it is drawn

The curse it is cast

The slow one now

Will later be fast

As the present now

Will later be past

The order is rapidly fadin’

And the first one now will later be last

For the times they are a-changin’

Young twenty-three-year-old Dylan wrote and recorded his prophetic song in 1962, over half a century ago. That's how it is with prophets, they see the future most do not; They speak truth most dare not; They offer sage advice most heed not; They are remembered for their insights and courage to speak the truth.

I believe music is the antidote that brings us together in sad times and through trials while lifting us up with hope when we need it most. Wishing you Thanksgiving music to fill your heart with hope.