Things Happen For a Reason

THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON

I was concerned when the phone rang so late at night.  Robin was at a conference and was so moved by what she had experienced that day that she called to tell me I must put this conference on my calendar for next year.  “Okay”, I said.  I trusted her completely.

Flash forward 1 year and Robin and I are driving in the snow. We are heading to the Berkshires to a place called Isabella Freedman to a conference about food.  That’s all I knew and I was smiling as the car headed North, warm coffee in my hand, and singing to a John Lennon CD.  

     

My very first workshop was entitled, “Think before you eat a banana” or something like that.  In the front of the room was a very animated young man sharing his story about how he started an organic dried fruit company.  His name was Stephen Brooks.  While traveling on vacation in Costa Rica, he came across a banana plantation.  He noticed a pulley system above the trees and got out of his car to investigate. Suddenly, he heard and then saw a small low flying plane trailing a line of billowing white smoke heading in his direction.  He then began to feel a mist before realizing he was being crop dusted with fungicides. In sheer panic, he dashed back to his car and then noticed a playground full of indigenous children. All he could think of was, “who is responsible for this?” He was outraged and that was the seed of his passion.  Stephen returned to the US and began to learn about the banana industry. He bought an old school bus and with a group of committed friends traveled thru Latin America teaching local people alternative growing methods.  

It was at this juncture of the story that a light bulb went off in my head. I time traveled in my brain to a moment when Zach was telling me a story about his student abroad program where he was helping to install solar lights in a small village in Nicaragua.  While there, he met a group of people traveling in an old school bus teaching local farmers about alternative energy and organic farming at all the stops they made. Zach was inspired

Immediately after Zach came back from his semester, he received a grant to purchase a 24’ community transit bus and converted it to run on recycled veggie oil.  The Bus became known as the Fossilfreeway, and he traveled across the country educating about bio-diesel and the problems with fossil fuels. That led to the birth of the Sustainable Living Roadshow, a caravan of educators, entertainer and activist who toured the country empowering communities to utilize sustainable living. His career was launched.

Could this clean cut young man on the stage be the person who inspired Zach?  As the connections began to sink in, I began to shiver with goose bumps, my fingers began to tremble and my brain was a swirling spinart of ideas.  Immediately after the lecture was over, I walked up to Stephen and asked if he knew Zach Carson.  He looked at me, grabbed me in a bear hug and said, “I love Zach Carson.  Mamma Carson, come with me to meet my Dad.”

So arm in arm we skipped to the lunchroom and it was there I was introduced to Norman Brooks.  When he learned that I was Zach’s mom, he finished chewing, wiped his mouth, put down his napkin and said, “Come back to my room with me I want to show you something.  MMMMM I thought as I followed him down the hall and up the stairs.  When we got inside his incredibly messy room, Norman fumbled about tossing clothes here and there until at last he found what he was looking for, his computer.

He opened the cover and as the screen lit up, my jaw dropped.  There on the screensaver was Norman with pink, green and orange crazy wild hair with one arm around my son Adam and his other arm around my son Zach. All three of them had on crazy oversized goggles with shit eating grins and happy faces covered in dirt.

How could this be?  Dumfounded, I turned to Norman and asked him where this was taken.  He said, “This is Burning Man, the most incredible place on Earth and you have to promise that you will go with me next year.”

I had no idea what Burning Man was, but I’ll never forget a moment that changed my life. Without hesitation, I said, “Okay”.   We hugged, and that’s the beginning of another story.