I Found A Home

Dear Sisters and Brothers of Beautiful Savior,

Today we are celebrating Rebecca Solomon’s retirement.  While I have only come to know Rebecca, Beautiful Savior has been the place she calls home.  Without using the typical adjectives often used to describe people retiring, Rebecca used her talents to celebrate the love of God through music.  Hans Christian Andersen said, “Where words fail, music speaks.”  Being a contemplative, Aldous Huxley said it best when he said, “After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” 

Well done good and faithful servant.  You are going out on a high note (pun intended).  Through the years you have through your music reached the deepest parts of our human experience.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.  After all is said and done music is the language of the spirit.  Enjoy a poem written by Rebecca. 

I found a Home

Three hundred and fifty-five days ago, I came home.

The sign said, "It's not like home. It is home."

And I believed it, hoped it, and trusted it to be true.

I was desperate for a place of peace

And safety and rest,

A place to restore my broken body and broken sanity

A place where I could be loved for who I am, not for what I could do for someone

A place where I could have fun - lots of fun, and be my silly or serious self

And grow new cells in my brain

And learn new skills I was surprised to gain

Surrounded by so many elder mentor types,

I watched them cope with pain, losses, disappointments, and maddening frustrations.

They each had varying degrees of grace, grit, and sometimes grumpiness

I watched them relate to each other

Care for each other, encourage each other

In a place like none other.

Suddenly I was walking slower, breathing deeper, and listening better

I didn't have to cook

I had time to actually read a book

I didn't have to clean

I had time to notice things previously unseen

And I didn't have to drive

I had lots of time and the freedom to thrive.

In this place, a friend said something so simple yet profound

That I've kept it in my mind going round and round –

He said, "A-T-A for Adjust, Tolerate, and the most important of all --Accept."

I'll repeat it often, even after I leave this place

And venture to another space

That I'll call home

But my three hundred and fifty-five day home

Will always be

So important to me

It will always be my home away from home.

Rebecca Solomon

September 2, 2023