Blog

Posted: Apr 27, 2011

The Ying and the Yang

As I was walking on site last week, I walked past the stone cutters hut where our two volunteers, Luke and Rudy, were engaged in some banter back and forth. Knowing that volunteers generally leave us much too soon, I snapped a picture of the two of them together. They both asked if I would send the picture to them and of course I said I would. It was as I was looking at the picture preparing to send it to them that I realized what an amazing place this castle of ours truly is. In an almost eerie way, I was looking at two completely different individuals that literally had nothing in common save one thing… our castle. I immediately thought about conversations with our other workers about the circumstances that led us here, and in many cases there were rather mysterious signs that brought us together. A white dove in a wood shop, an Arkansas license plate, a large crow perched nearby for three days. Most of us feel like we are “suppose” to be here. In the case of Luke and Rudy, I don’t know if they had any signs that led them here but I do know that when I looked at the two of them smiling back at me from the picture, I made the connection that these two men represented what this place is all about. Luke is our youngest volunteer, Rudy is our oldest. One is deeply rooted in the Ozarks, the other has traveled the world. Luke came to volunteer for two weeks with the desire to begin his career here whereas Rudy has retired from a lifetime of military service, scientific research, and teaching so starting a career was not at all his intent. It’s the Ying and the Yang. Two men from opposite lives who have come to this place, at the same time. It all makes such perfect sense when you realize that we are building a French castle in the heart of the American south. Whether Luke and Rudy have made the connection or not, it’s hard to ignore the fact that their ages are 17 and 71. Indeed we are all exactly where we are suppose to be.

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• 15 · Norma · 1 July 2011, 09:47

  if you have a newsletter that you email out to interested people-would you please add me to it-
  Thank you

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