into the dark, around the big bend, into the light

This must be the year that my Periodic Table gets into students' hands!

Here's the message from Reverend Billy's weekly email.

 

"Community Focus - Dining in the Dark This Thursday
I will be forever grateful for the day that Asbury member, Roy Hill,
introduced me to the work of the Savannah Center for the Blind and Low
Vision. Like many of you, Roy not only serves at Asbury, he is very
active in serving the community. Roy is currently the president of the
board of directors for SCBLV. I encourage you to go to their website
and see the great work that SCBLV does.
This Thursday, SCBLV will be having their main fundraiser, Dining in
the Dark. To raise awareness of vision loss, a three course meal is
served in complete darkness by Savannah Metro's SWAT Team using their
night-vision equipment. Then you are in the dark trying to partake of
the food. It is a very affective experience. If you have not ever
participated, I would encourage you to do so. It may be too late to get
tickets for this year's event, but circle it in your calendar for next
year. Of course, you can contribute to SCBLV anytime. And by all means,
check out their services. For many of us who are getting older and
starting to have vision issues, SCBLV is not only for people who are
totally blind. It is there to help any of us who are starting to have
vision issues. They are trained to help us adapt and function with whatever
eyesight we have or don't have.
Thank you, Roy, and to all the folks at SCBLV!"

 

Apparently, there's a connection at Asbury Memorial Church, one of my fellow members there, who can possibly help lead me to the resources I need.

I will definitely look him up when next I go.

Weekends have been miserably cold this month, meaning I have not yet ventured there.

Still, maybe I can locate my church directory and contact him before hand?

Now, there's an idea!

But not today.

Cinema Savannah had brought a movie for us, along with a Q&A afterward - hooray!

I was there with dos de mi tres amigas, Barbara and Carolyn, and they were seated about four rows up from me.

I prefer the first row, at floor level, there at the Sav'h Cultural Arts Center, so I can stretch my legs instead of being cramped up.

That made me seem to be there alone and several friends tried to get me to sit with them.

I thought that was pretty funny!

Still, my thanks to Axelle and Jordan, to Amanda and Mark, to Margaret Clay, to Rob and Lindsay Norman and her towering son, Jesse!

So wonderful to have so many looking out for me!

(smile!)

 

The movie was fabulous.

The family had traveled from the suburbs of New Jersey to a tiny town in Texas, partly for a vacation, partly to visit college friends one last time.

The dad had cancer, but he didn't want to bring down the party, so he kept the news quiet for most of the visit.

The mom had news she wasn't sharing, either, passing off her expanded tummy as a result of fibrous cysts, not a third pregnancy.

However, when their youngest girl wanders off during a trip to the desert, the mom tells the truth about the dad's health, to add urgency to the search for the child.

Meanwhile, she keeps having a dream about a rock tunnel she had explored on an earlier desert hike, a tunnel that led into a darkened cavern that she had to pass through...

very much like the dark time she had to get through in her life.

Truly, it was an excellent film, full of the contrasting perspectives of the adults - caught up in their own troubles and strain - with that of the children, for whom the trip was an adventure into a land so very different from their normal.

 

Brett Wagner, the one with his left hand in the air, is a local SCAD professor who wrote and directed it.

Amazingly, it was based on a trip his family had taken the year before he wrote the script!

He's seated between his two daughters, Zoe and Delilah, who played the daughters in the film.

They were 10 and 8 at the time (two years ago).

He even used some of their actual dialogue from the real trip in the movie!

Very nice!

And that laid-back fellow on the end of the foursome is the cinematographer, Paul Atkins. 

So many questions from the audience!

And why was Brett's hand in the air?

Someone had asked about the filming of the hot-water heater scene, in which it had shot into the air (hence the hand being raised) before falling back to the ground.

Very interesting how they did that!

Afterward, we were off to Bonefish to grab some food!

I had intended to order their House Salad, as I so enjoy it, but I went for the Ahi Tuna Poke instead.

Good choice, but it was a lot of food for that late at night!

All that tuna rested on a mound of sticky rice... and I ate it all.

Carolyn ate all of her big dinner, too!

Barbara had the seared tuna appetizer, so she had to watch the two of us continue eating long after she was done...

so, roughly for an hour or more.

Yep, we closed the place down!

(smile!)