Beauty

by Pat Antonopoulos

There are times when I am so annoying. Something gets hold of my sense of "right-with-the-world and I latch onto the subject with brain, voice and typing fingers.

This is one of those times, so be fair and fore warned.

Yesterday, the authors of Four Ordinary Women were interviewed by Rachel of the Kansas City Star. Allison, also from the Kansas City Star, took photographs and added to the fun of the experience.

We sat around the table in Patti's beautiful kitchen answering questions, offering opinions and sharing insights. Rachel and Allison gave snippets of their lives as they recorded our interview. Towards the end of the interview, Wood, Mary Morgan, Andrew and Meghan gathered in the kitchen. Quietly, they watched their Mom and friends as they worked to keep a calm professional demeanor that threatened to give way to bursts of the joy connected with this step along the road of Four Ordinary Women.

Here is where brain and heart are going to falter. I don't think I have the words to usher the feelings of this experience. We ranged from teens to seventy, with generational steps between---students, young professionals, creative and employed adults, mother managing this wonderful family while giving volunteer hours and a retired grandmother. Listening, responding, smiling and engaged attention to one another made the hour dissolve into a moment of pure enjoyment. If laughter and concern for others can cure any ailments, we all came away much healthier and definitely more appreciative of this gift of many facets---Four Ordinary Women.