What is a perfect moment?

A perfect moment is sitting on a boat in the evening, the gentle waves of the marina pulling the craft ever so slightly against its moorings, a lulling rocking.



The fading exhiliration of adventure on the water draining stress and tension from muscles still taught from straining on ropes.



Old friends laughing together, coiling ropes and drinking cans of Blue Moon Bavarian White beer.



Recognizing a piece of music on public radio, crying out, "I've played that! When did I play that?", and the rush of joy when the recollection comes rushing back and the strings and organ come pouring out from not only the radio, but out of memory. And when the laughter drowns out the title of the piece, still lost in the overcrowded oblivion of memory, taking another sip and looking up into the heavens, stars winking around the top of the mast, the orchestra in the mind pulsing in time with the lapping of the wavelets on the hull.

what a crazy, random happenstance!

So, life has been pretty fun lately. On Thursday I met a group of sailors from Rio de Janiero, Brazil on the Freedom trail. They were in town for Sail Boston 2009, and on Saturday I got to see their ship, among others, docked here in Boston. They even let us come aboard and look around, which was pretty much amazing. Being on a full rigged ship with 31 sails was incredible, and perhaps even a chance for literary research. The ship is called the Cisne Branco, which translates to White Swan. And it is a beauty! Sadly, it's position at the dock made it such that I couldn't get the best angle for a photo of the whole ship, so the yellow-trimmed Romanian vessel will have to do for giving you the feel of a true tall ship. The tiny photo above is all I could get off the Sail Boston website.

Here I am at the bow of the Cisne Branco--an experience well worth the wait in line.


And this is the Mircea, of Romania. Not quite as long or impressive as the Cisne Branco, but the yellow trim gives it a lovely, fanciful quality.


But sailors and ships were not the only points of interest this weekend. On Friday, I met some folks on the Freedom Trail who worked for Greater Europe Missions and know my cousins, who are serving in Germany at the Black Forrest Academy, a school for children of missionaries. We had a great conversation about Peter and what a great job he's doing at the school. They even tried (jokingly, I think) to recruit me for the school once they found out I was at library school (and being a violinist impressed them too--apparently they're interested in multi-talented people). I enjoy getting to make a connection with random visitors, but this was definitely better than most conversations I've struck up.

On Sunday, Joni Earickson Tada spoke at Park Street Church. The building was packed, and her message about God's goodness was very well delivered. I especially liked the passage she chose to end with, which was from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She read us Mr. Beaver's description of Aslan, reminding us that while he is not safe in the least, God is still Good. And even though being a Christian will not keep us safe from broken necks or other pains and problems, God is good and will use those hurts for good. Gotta love a speaker who can tie in C.S. Lewis so splendidly, especially using his fiction and not his more direct theological thoughts. During the service I played second violin in a string quartet for the prelude and the offertory. After the service I was headed down the stairs by where Joni was waiting to pray with people, and she stopped me to thank me for playing. She thanked me! People do that from time to time, but it feels especially good to get a compliment like that from someone like Joni. It totally made my day.

-Kim