Rosie’s Friends and Family (Saturday)

Since I arrived on Wednesday, I have met a parade of Rosie’s family and friends and have been welcomed warmly by all. She has a large community of people who truly care about her. It is clear to me that they are a large factor in why she is who she is. After, of course, the family she was raised in.

It was important to Rosie that I experience this community that is so important to her. On Saturday, we went to the dedication of the Wilmington Kingdom Hall which she and Cameron had helped to remodel.

Rosie had explained to me that the Kingdom Halls, which is what Jehovah’s Witnesses call their meeting places, are built by all volunteer work. They break into teams (Rosie and Cameron are on the electrical team), on a regional basis and accomplish the construction much faster than a normal construction crew. They also have no paid staff. Everyone volunteers their time toward the maintenance of the community.

On the way to the dedication, we stopped off in the garment district in downtown LA where Cameron wanted to buy a suit for me. We went to the clothing business he frequents and I had fun picking a suit with the help of Rosie, the store owner and a wonderful woman who seemed to be the chief consultant for everyone within her sight. She’d be telling us which suit she approved of for me, whether the suit jacket fit, what tie to wear with what shirt and with that particular suit. I felt I was in good hands. She was there with her grandsons to get them dressed for their father’s funeral.

We had an hour to pick a suit, zip next door to get it altered, and be on our way to the dedication.

We did it with ease and managed to eat lunch as well.

We arrived at the Hall early and had the opportunity to tour the facility. There were photos of the work that had been done to remodel this particular Kingdom Hall, which had been condemned, due to structural damage caused by the building of a Highway ramp just behind the building. They had to sue CalTrans, trying to gain damages to repair the building. They won the case, but were only awarded the minumum, which was far less than what they needed. They went ahead and did the repairs on their own.

The dedication consisted of a talk by a visiting “brother” from back east, I believe he was from New York, though it may have been New Jersey.

He spoke of the importance of taking care of the building and illustrated his reasons with quotations from the Bible. To my mind, the thinking was a little forced, his interpretations seemed to stretch the words to fit. My lack of sleep was not helpful to keeping focused on the talk. Rosie had told me that she would understand if I had to leave at some point and I was grateful for her understanding and support. I was interested enough that leaving never entered my mind, though sleeping did.

I have had no real experience with Jehovah’s Witnesses, except for those who have knocked on my door. My experiences with them have been pleasant, they have listened to my differing views with respect. They seemed quite earnest and likable people.

This was my first exposure to Rosie’s larger community of people. This is the community, the family, that has kept her afloat through a life that has had more than it’s share of difficulties. I am grateful to them for that! I want to understand who she is and am keeping my mind open in experiencing her religion is a large part of that.

This community of people seem to be genuinely beyond race. They actively seek connection with people of other cultures and value the idea of living among a commuinty of many cultural facets. I applaud them for that. I have rarely been in a situation with so many cultures interacting so comfortably. Interracial relationships seem common as people are seen as being more than their race.The focus is elsewhere. I think this is what has allowed Rosie to grow up “outside of race”. She has nieces and nephews who share a multiracial background.

I understand religious persecution. I have experienced how people respond to a religion that is not one of the “regular” ones. I am aware that we live in a nation founded upon religious freedom, in which there is a reality of religious intolerance.

I believe that the differences in our religious views is not something that will come between us. Our bond feels strong and underlies everything. I believe that we will find peaceful co-existence, though I know that, since she believes that there will be eternal life in Paradise, she does not like the thought that that eternal life might not include me, if I don’t believe what she believes. I understand that fear. Now that we have found one another, she does not want it to ever end. Neither do I.

Since this was a dedication for the congregation and these who worked on the construction teams, I wasn’t there as “Rosie’s Father” and was introduced that way to only a few people. So, I got have a low profile and observe.

When we returned home, we fell into bed, as none of us had been getting much sleep these nights. Rosie and I have been staying up late talking and I think I was getting more sleep than she was . . . and I was only getting a couple of hours! I would fall asleep, only to awaken, an hour or two later, with my mind chewing on the events of the day, holding them up alongside of what Rosie has told me of her life. We have been very open and honest about our lives with one another, though, as she has said, I know more about hers than she knows about mine. We have been working on that and will continue. I do want her to know and understand who I am. She has read through my blog of the last several years and that has been a starting point. There is much that is not told in those pages. I am grateful that I have those words to point her to in her efforts to know me.

We had time for a brief nap before the family arrived at 6:00 for pizza and to meet Rosie’s Dad. Cameron’s mother, two of her daughters, Charlene and Tammi, and two of her grandchildren, Chantel and Tiana, and Rosie’s sister, Monica, and her children, Benjamin and India Rose.

Cameron made us his wonderful pizza. He had a restaurant in Winnipeg and is an amazing cook. We had his pizza, corn on the cob, a platter of carrots, celery and snow peas, along with the hot links that Lottie had sent home with Rosie.

I have been quite pampered on this visit.

After dinner we moved into the living room for some music. Charlene played the piano. Rosie has a nice digital piano which fits nicely in the living room and sounds wonderful. Cameron’s sister is a fairly accomplished pianist, though she doesn’t currently have a piano. I wish I could get such sound out of that instrument. Rosie took her turn on the piano bench and played a sweet, delicate piece. India treated us to her version of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and Tiana honored us with a brief, never before heard improvised piece. I even took my turn. I figured if they were willing to share what they could do, I’d give it a go as well.
Charlene led a song from the Witness’s song book and then I pulled my guitar out of the case and got India and Tiana to sing the “Shirt Song” with me. They did quite well, as I suspected they might. We sang “Mrs. Murphys Chowder”, “Kick and Glide” and Rosie and I sang, “There’s a Light In You”. I sang “From the Heart” and later remembered to share “He May Be Slow”, realizing that this family of Tammi’s would resonate with the song I dedicate to my sister, Dorrie.

It was a sweet evening and I look forward to more of them!