The Detroit River

Last Sunday I drove downtown to catch up on some work at the office. After I parked, I realized that I didn't have the office key. I refused to drive all the way home, and then all the way back. So I decided to take a walk.

I walked south on Griswold Street until I came to Hart Plaza. I saw an Indian (Pakistani?) family speaking Hindi/Urdu/Gujarati or some other language from the Indian subcontinent. It was a large family with elderly people, young adults, and children. I wondered who was a cousin, and who was a grandpa, and who might have been a great-uncle.

Very few people were at Hart Plaza, so I walked all the way to the Detroit River. I was surpised to see that significant progress has been made on the riverfront pedestrian path. I've been hearing about the plans for a three-mile long park along the river, but nothing ever seemed to materialize. I guess they've finally gotten things in gear. I walked east from Hart Plaza all the way to Chene Park. Sometimes I would stop and watch the boats. There were lots of people fishing. I saw a few motor boats zip by, and it seemed like the people in them were in a hurry. I saw two freighters, both traveling east toward Lake St. Clair (Detroit sits at the point on the river that flows east/west; Windsor, Ontario is actually south of us).

I watched the people on the path. Senior citizens out for walk. A woman and three little girls, each on a bicycle. A few couples holding hands. Some people were jogging. When I reached Chene Park, I turned around and walked back to Hart Plaza, then kept going west. I saw a man sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette. He looked pretty unhappy, and I noticed he had a tattoo near his ankle.

I sat on a bench for a while and watched boats go by, and a group of men standing nearby and fishing. A little boy who kept making a lot of noise was with them. I don't remember what he was saying, but I remember wishing that they would make him be quiet. As I was about to leave, I saw a girl that I knew in college. She introduced me to her fiance, and we exchanged contact info.

The rest of my week consisted of meetings, phone calls, and worrying about the amount of work I was getting done. One day last week I called a friend and asked him if he wanted to get a beer. He said "sure," but we just sat at his placed and talked. I was too tired to go get a beer, and I didn't really have any money. I don't think he had any money either.

I will try to take my camera the next time I go to the river. I'd like to post some pictures of the boats.

Dinner with Friends

Few things give me more pleasure and comfort than dinner with friends. Ideally, the dinner is in someone's home, and rather informal. I like to have lots of people, but not so many that the place becomes crowded. Good food, good conversation, and some good wine. It's great if everyone feels comfortable, and no one has to rush away to this meeting or that event. It's good for people to gather together and share a meal. It's simple but significant, and communal yet intimate.

Below is an account of friends sharing a meal. The meal took place long before any of us were born, and long before the language I'm writing this post in was ever spoken, but I can see this meal in my mind's eye. I see it clearly, and even though I wasn't there, I "remember" it.

"And when the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, 'With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.' Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, 'Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.' And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.'"

Luke 22:14-20