I have for many years been in the habit of writing up a report from the Sunday services at First Parish UU church in Chelmsford, MA as a way of celebrating not being a mormon. And here it is – just not appearing on a Sunday. So the 8 people who were reading this on Sundays and who wonder where it has been for so long – it will appear randomly, not necessarily on Sunday and probably not every week.

That being cleared up – it was a busy week for my involvement with First Parish. I am once again teaching the human sexuality and reproductive health course for eight graders, “Our Whole Lives.” We meet every Sunday morning for 2.5 hours at Carole and Beth’s house because there is no room for us in the church on Sunday mornings and Carole and Beth routinely donate their enormous house for church and community gatherings.

We have 11 young people, 5 boys, 6 girls. I love them all already! My co-teacher, David, and I have a new challenge - the young man in the wheelchair. He has the use of his upper body, but we need to rethink some of the activities that call for everyone getting up and quickly changing chairs. It is nice to have the opportunity to be creative.

Speaking of David – he and I agreed to each pick up magazines for collages on body image that the teens will be creating this weekend. I ran into David’s husband, Will at the grocery in the magazine aisle where he had picked up something truly boring. I asked him if he happened to know if David had picked up any teen heartthrob magazines. He hadn’t seen any around the house. He gave David a call and sure enough, he still needed magazines. He asked me what he should get. I suggested Cosmo and Maxim. Will asked, “What’s Maxim?” I explained that it was a slightly tame version of what playboy was maybe thirty years ago. He laughed and acknowledged that there was no reason for him to pay it any attention.

We parted to do our shopping. Will caught up with me again near cereal. “Maura,” he said, “Maxim is WAY too raw, I don’t want the kids to see it. David will have to pick it up himself if he thinks it’s appropriate.” I asked Will where he had found it. Right there on the magazine aisle. My guess it the kids have seen it. Not sure if we will use those pictures for the collage.

Will and I were both at that grocery store because we were on our way home from a performance at a nursing home nearby. Will organized a small choir of interested people from First Parish to perform at nursing homes. We sing a wide variety of really old songs. Some in our audience have not even spoken for several years. Their care takers are always happy to see them sing along on Let me call you sweetheart or Amazing Grace. Today’s audience was from the locked wing of an alzheimer’s care facility. Some danced, some sang. All made us feel welcome and honored to be among them for the time we were there.

Have you read this far? Thanks so much – I hope to have you checking in on First Parish again soon.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2010 05:53PM by msmom.

Ahh! Thanks Maura, now the new BB feels like home again.

I hadn't even gotten around to mentioning the sustainability lecture on Friday night.

and not to change the subject, but were you at the exmo conference this year. If so, I am very sorry that I didn't get a chance to greet a fellow New Englander at the conference..

But it is way easier to meet here where we both live. My email is mksnow@comcast.net. Send me an email about where you live in CT - I'll bet we can get together in less than a 2 hour drive each instead of a 5+ hour plane trip.