Dedication to Sally McClintock

Gentle Readers,

I would like to dedicate this blog to a dear friend, Sally McClintock.  If you have read previous postings, you'll remember my mentioning LATTICE, the organization Sally founded several years ago.  I referred to the significant and life-changing conversations that often occur at the LATTICE meeting tables... safe places where we can question and answer and doubt and laugh and learn.  It is truly a place where we could have our eyes opened, our hearts made vulnerable, and even agree to disagree.  All of our names, and the history behind them, were treasures to Sally.  As a result, we became a global community within the Greater Lansing Area, and we developed friendships that cross so many boundries.

I just discovered that Sally had surgery for stage four brain cancer on Sunday.  She is in Maine with her beloved husband Jim, recovering and anticipating physical therapy, chemo, and radiation. 

So, I would like to dedicate this blog to Sally... to her vision, to her inspiration, and to her strength.  Sally is the most open-minded, open-hearted person I know, and her life has been dedicated to helping each of us understand one another.  Without Sally, I probably would never have gone to Nepal with Muari Suvedi in 2003.  It was at LATTICE that I learned of the Fulbright opportunity for the first time.  And it was Sally who gave me numerous opportunities at LATTICE to share multi-cultural activities I engage in with my students.  And it was Sally that encouraged me to spread my wings, always.  And it was Sally who always extended a healing hand.  And it was Sally who encouraged me to become a world citizen...

Thank you, Sally.  I send you light and love as you recover from your surgery.  There are, without a doubt, people all over the world lifting you up at this very moment.  I don't know if you believe in angels, but you are enveloped by a goodness and a radiance that I hope you can feel today and always. 

I know China holds a very special place in you, Sally.  And I remember your telling me about taking some comfort food with me, like a jar of peanut butter, which I did when I taught in China in the summer of 2008.  As I ate those tiny sweet bananas, mangos, and peanut butter for a snack every night in Bieje, I thought of you.  I will think of you each night in China this summer, too.  Know that you are very loved.

Namaste,
Marianne