Signs of the Times

April 21, 2025 | Waterside RV Resort | Sebring, Florida

We’ve let some time pass since our last posting primarily because we’ve been settling into six weeks at our “permanent” site in Sebring until our next adventure in mid-May. Since returning from Georgia, we’ve met up with some of Cheryl’s former work colleagues in Orlando for an intimate lunch and lots of conversation. Marsha was able to get a first-hand glimpse into Cheryl’s connections with a diverse group of passionate team members who truly believe it’s possible to change lives for good and make a difference in this world, starting with themselves. It was refreshing and a great reminder to prioritize our own health and wellbeing so we can be of service to others and make sure everyone has a fighting chance to thrive.

The meet up with Cheryl’s former colleagues came at a very good time to counterbalance the turmoil spun by the current U.S. administration. While we don’t intend for this blog to be political, it’s nonetheless an integral part of life and something we must balance, too. As we connect more with others in our life and listen to what’s happening not only in this country but across the globe, we know we must stand up, speak out, and take action to protect our core values and strong beliefs in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

We’ve been reading Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from An American every day to ground ourselves in our history and understand just how much of that history continues to repeat itself decade after decade and century after century. Her post on April 18, 2025, about the 250^th anniversary of the lighting of the lanterns in Boston’s Old North Church, was so inspiring for such a time as this. We read this on the morning of April 19 as we prepared to attend a 50501 protest in Sebring. The day before, we gathered with local friends to make our signs. We wondered if any of this would make a difference, and then Heather’s words reassured us:

The work of Newman and Pulling to light the lanterns exactly 250 years ago tonight sounds even less heroic. They agreed to cross through town to light two lanterns in a church steeple. It sounds like such a very little thing to do, and yet by doing it, they risked imprisonment or even death. It was such a little thing … but it was everything.

… What Newman and Pulling did was simply to honor their friendships and their principles and to do the next right thing, even if it risked their lives, even if no one ever knew. And that is all anyone can do as we work to preserve the concept of human self-determination. In that heroic struggle, most of us will be lost to history, but we will, nonetheless, move the story forward, even if just a little bit.

And once in a great while, someone will light a lantern – or even two – that will shine forth for democratic principles that are under siege, and set the world ablaze.