Every Day a Challenge

When it comes to having a book published, each day brings a new challenge. Take this past Friday for example…

It was my day to open the Cafe and I was excited to get the chance to talk with Jennifer about maybe booking the Cafe for my Launch Party on or around the 7th of May. Its the perfect venue. Its the perfect size, has a wonderful ambiance, and I am comfortable there. As soon as Jennifer arrived she beat me to the punch, having read my post from last week. She said, “You ARE going to have the launch party here, right?!” Then we started checking the schedule for possible dates. There were a few conflicts with the 7th so Jennifer said she would talk with the facilities manager at Hope to work out the details. After thirty minutes Jennifer came back to inform me that she had forgotten about the rule our church has that would make it impossible to have the event at the Cafe. Hope doesn’t allow anyone to sell things in the church building. It’s essentially the no money changers in the temple rule. Jennifer had simply forgotten about the rule in her excitement and apologized for the oversight.

At this point I should point out the obvious fact that I was really disappointed. But at the same time I totally get it. Actually, it speaks well of our church that the leadership team is sensitive about the reputation of our church to the point where they try to eliminate even the appearance of evil. Imagine what the church would look like if every time you showed up for a service there were vendors hawking stuff in the halls. Since one of the points of a launch party is to offer signed copies of your book for sale, the Cafe can’t be the venue. Bummer.

So now we are back to the drawing board for another venue. It won’t be easy. My neighborhood doesn’t have a clubhouse. My house isn’t nearly large enough. Libraries won’t work either—they have the same no selling rule. For the first and only time in my life I regret not being a member of a Country Club. My opinion of Country Clubs has always been the same as Groucho Marx—“I refuse to be a member of any club that would have me as a member!”

As soon as we find a place and work out the details we will activate the RSVP tab on my Author Page. Would love to see you there!

My Author Website

My Author Website is officially LIVE!!! 

When I was told that I needed an Author Website and then told how much it would cost to produce one I was floored. That’s when Pam said something along the lines of, “That’s ridiculous! I can make you a website.” Her confidence sprang from the fact that she is an absolute marvel at the graphic arts side of computing and had done many similar creative projects before. She had no idea how difficult this endeavor would be. She practically had to teach herself the entire process, since the available software was bulky and the very opposite of intuitive. She has spent many late nights fighting through this thing, and along the way was given some major help from my son Patrick. But last night she finished and this morning it went live.

https://dougdunnevant.com/

Give the site a visit and let me know what you think!

Praying For a Friend

I have a friend who will be having a rough morning. Her son is having his jaw surgically broken and moved forward to better accommodate breathing and growth etc.. It’s not life threatening, but as a parent you have to sit there in the waiting room while a bunch of doctors hurt your child, and this is the worst feeling in the world. If there was any way possible for you to hop up on that table and take his place you would do it in a New York minute. But you can’t. He has to walk this path himself while you agonize in the waiting room.

Pam and I have been lucky. Neither one of our kids ever had to endure something like this. They never had surgery of any kind. They had their share of stitches, broken bones and colds, along with one car accident, but nothing like this. Then there are the parents we know who have lost children, parents who have lived through the crucible of burying a child, the very darkest night of the soul. My heart breaks for them, no matter how much time may have passed, I’m sure they feel the loss still.

So, this morning I pray for my friend.

Meanwhile, Lucy seems frustrated with me…

“Must you make so much noise typing over there? Can’t you see that I am trying to snoozle?”

You Can’t Get Any Luckier Than This

So, yesterday after church Pam and I were driving to a restaurant to meet our Sunday Lunch Bunch when my Apple Watch vibrated rudely. I glanced at it and found this message:

“Hi there. You mentioned wanting to rent in the fall. Is that still true and if so what dates”

Carolyn May

Immediately, my heart rate soared. Carolyn is the owner of Loon Landing and along with her husband Keith are just about as nice a couple as you will ever meet. (When Pam broke her wrist last fall in Maine, they brought us dinner the night after her surgery!). Several months ago we got a call from her telling us that she would not be renting out LL this summer. They had decided to stay there themselves all summer—something they have never done in the 17 years they have owned the place. Although we were disappointed, we completely understood. That’s when I had told her that we would be interested in a fall rental if it was possible, although we knew that they have family who rent during the fall. Anyway, I had forgotten all of this until the moment I received this text from her. To make a long story short, in no time we had agreed to four weeks in the fall from Sept. 13 thru October 11. It was the happiest I’ve been in months. 

So in 2024 Pam and I have the privilege of spending 10 full weeks on our favorite lake in Maine, the last four in our favorite lake house of all time:

The Cafe at West Creek

I show up at 7 am every Friday morning. A few months ago it was pitch black when I punched in the security code to get in. Now the sun is up and its considerably warmer. Still, it feels weird being the only one in the building. A church is not supposed to be empty. Last year my church, at considerable expense and after lots of thought, opened up a Cafe which they decided to call—The Cafe at West Creek. It was to be a donation-only coffee shop with free WiFi opened to the public from 8-4 five days a week. To make it work, they would need volunteers and lots of them. I decided to give it a try for two reasons. First of all it sounded like it might be fun. After setting the place up I would be tasked with welcoming people, showing newcomers the ropes and generally being an encourager. The second reason was on account of the fact that I knew the manager/boss of the enterprise—Jennifer Glotz—who, I have been told on more than one occasion, is the female version of me. When she asked, it was hard to refuse. So, here I am, every Friday morning.

The first couple of months it was like a ghost town in here. For one thing the staff has Fridays off, and for another we were brand new and not many people knew we even existed. As each month passed traffic has picked up to the point where now Friday mornings are busy and a lot more fun. January and February have seen my shift overrun with new faces, groups of two or three meeting for coffee, moms and dads who work from home using the space, and more recently larger groups showing up for meetings of one kind or another. Add to this the influx of parents and grandparents bringing their little ones to Friday morning story time. The place is suddenly hopping. It does my heart good to see a space that before sat empty all week long now being used in this way.

The best part of this deal are the serendipitous encounters you have with total strangers. I have spoken with a young mother who was eight months pregnant with a two year old at home who had asked a friend to look after him long enough for her to have a bagel and some peace and quiet. I met a man who had stopped going to church during COVID and never gone back. We were the first church building he had been inside in two years. Now he comes on Sunday mornings. I see him across the way and wave. He waves back and smiles. I met a lady from Brazil with two toddlers at story time. Someone had told her about this coffee shop where the coffee was good and super cheap ($1 suggested donation cheap). It was her first time in the building. Her kids were beautiful. She looked exhausted but glanced around like she couldn’t believe her good fortune for having found such a place. I met a retiree, probably 7 or 8 years older than me who seemed happy to have a place to come to be around people. One day I saw an older lady taking pictures of the artwork on the walls. Apparently she is a regular but this was her first time coming on Friday morning. She went on and on about how she loved the Cafe, like she was trying to convince me to give it a try. When I told her I was a volunteer we both had a good laugh. Sometimes I will see a group of college kids splayed out in one of the booths drinking cold brew, two booths over from an older woman in an intense conversation with a younger woman. I found out later that the older lady was the younger’s mentor and had been for several years.

My church took a chance on The Cafe. Its not cheap. Just how much we dropped to get this place up and running I don’t know and frankly I don’t care. The church’s finances are not my job. Others with that responsibility will have to answer for the proper stewardship of the church’s budget and spending priorities. My job as a member is to find a place to serve that is suited to my skill set and gifts. When I find it I need to volunteer and see how it goes. If it ends up being a disaster, I’ll know soon enough. (I’m reminded of that time when someone thought I would make a great finance committee chairman back in the day. Worse. Idea. Ever.) But if I find something that is fulfilling and fun, then its a win. The Cafe is fun. You should give it a try.

Our Fun Weekend

Its been over a week since last I posted in this space. Pam and I spent some time in Nashville with Patrick, Sarah, and Frisco. It was a fun few days away. We got to see our talented kids sing some Bach solos. We ate some amazing Cajun food, a delicious homemade pad Thai dinner, a scrumptious breakfast of pastries and scrambled eggs. To top all of that off, we got to watch Frisco play his famous find the ball game—which was easily the most impressive event of the weekend.

In the midst of all the fun was one book business call where we set the price of my book in its various forms and nailed down a release date: May, 7, 2024!!

It will be officially on sale that day in three forms, paperback, e-book, and hardcover. I learned a lot of new stuff during the call, and Pam and Patrick made lots of progress getting my Author website ready. I still feel like a rank amateur when it comes to everything that has happened after writing this book over ten years ago. There are so many decisions that have to be made in rapid fire succession at the various stages of publication. Sometimes it all seems like a blur to me. But, it certainly is exciting, if a bit nerve wracking at the same time. 

We drove back from Nashville on Tuesday and made it home just in time to vote before the polls closed. As it turned out, we needn’t have bothered. As is usually the case, our preferred candidate got clobbered. But you have to vote, right? Even if you know it doesn’t matter, you still have to vote. Why? I’m not totally sure at this point, I just know that you do. So we did. I blame Coach Flanagan, my civics teacher back in high school, who essentially said that if you don’t vote you’re a loser. The actually phrase I remember was “pathetic loser”. Its the sort of thing an impressionable 18 year old doesn’t easily forget.

One more thing…my sister Paula and her husband Ron kept Lucy for us while we were in Nashville. They kept us fully up to speed on Lucy’s activities throughout her stay which usually consisted of pictures of Lucy in varying poses of laziness…

There were a couple of photographs that offered proof that they didn’t just lay around the house the entire time…

In case you’re wondering, neither Lucy or Paula and Ron were injured during the weekend.

Peace-lite

I attended a Bible study last night at my church. This isn’t something our church does in mass very often. We are a small group oriented congregation. But last night’s study was entitled, The Gospel and…Peace. I was interested in the subject so I went.

It was led by David Dwight, our senior pastor, a super smart dude who has a gift for making even the most complex theological subjects accessible and clear. He talked and I listened.

We sat at large tables. The auditorium was packed, probably 250 people or more. I met a couple who were brand new to our church and brand new to Richmond. Nice people. There were cookies and coffee, a Q&A after the study and a time for table discussion. I left as flummoxed by the concept of peace as I have ever been.

David was eloquent. He explained all about the nature of peace and how it is defined in scripture etc etc. When it came time for discussion with my table mates I asked this question: Has anyone at this table ever been totally at peace? A couple of them answered in the positive, using examples from their lives that were quite comforting. My answer was and remains…No. Never.

The closest I come to peace is my time in Maine each year. Being on that lake, emerged in nature’s beauty, fishing in the quiet of the morning from my kayak is as peaceful as I have been. But it’s never complete peace. No matter how perfect the day, how idyllic the conditions, there is always a part of my brain that is alive with turbulence. It has always been so, and here’s the thing—I’m not sure I want complete and perfect peace. I don’t know what I would do with it. Let me explain.

I can only speak from my own experience on this subject and when I do I understand full well that I am an outlier. My mind is never at rest. Even my body is seldom at rest. The most difficult part of last night was sitting still for the entire hour and a half, (I couldn’t, incidentally, spending twenty minutes or so standing up in the back of the room). I am always thinking about what’s next, trying to anticipate what’s coming, consequently, there is never anything approaching mental stillness. If you’re thinking that this sounds exhausting and strange, you might be right. But in my 42 year business career it has served me well. It’s that very restlessness that motivates me to action and accomplishment. In addition, as a writer my mind is always searching and probing stuff trying to discover inspiration. For me I have always thought that peace isn’t attainable for people like me this side of eternity, and I suppose I’m ok with that.

I wish is wasn’t so. Being able to turn off the constant churning of thoughts and ideas bouncing around inside me would be nice. For now, I’ll settle for peace-lite.