LOVE Connection

       

Private dining room at the Eden Rock Hotel, Miami

    The Eden Rock Hotel was a wonderful escape.  The bold new decor was a designers dream.  I felt like I had stepped back in time as I  imagined the movie stars that had graced these walls.  You must check out their website http://boldnewedenroc.com/   and see the fabulous renovation.   The wall in the private dining room depicts a blending of old and new.    If only these walls could talk and tell stories, I am sure they would share  of the countless people who have dined before.  Imagine  the movie stars who have graced these interiors.

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      In any relationship you will use elements from the past to bring out a new dimension.  I love the small mirrored cutouts.  The reflection of a little glitter against the natural stone with the embedded shell fossils was so intriguing.   Something of a previous generation was left to give an imprint to the Florida Chic dining room.

        I discovered more than a beach getaway in a fabulous resort.   The true imprint left  in the wall of my heart is forever lasting.    I was invited to the 70th anniversary of the voyage of the St. Louis.  In 1939 it carried Jewish refugees from Europe, but was turned away from Havana, Miami, and Ft. Lauderdale ports. This was a reunion for the remaining survivors.  Look at the front page Monday, December 14, 2009 Miami Herald  Miamiherald.com for the article.

         Life is so fragile.   I saw this reflected in the many vases displayed throughout the hotel.  The glass vases reminded me of the lives that  were just as transparent.   As I saw thru their precious hearts and felt the warmth in their stories,  I somehow felt a part of it.  Stories connect  the heart.  Life lessons mirror  others love, laughter and heartbreak.   They let us see and connect to people who we have never met before.  We feel the love connection.

New "friends", a survivor and her sister from NY and me!

        

  1939 was a time when  the existence of Judaism was in question .  History cannot change the past; it only paints a picture  to help redesign our future.  We preserve our stories thru scrapbooks  that recapture events and reunite hearts.   A picture portrays much more than a thousand words!   I so delighted to see the faces of the "survivors" light up as Rosemary Schlindler of Schindler's Ark opened her album of their past get-togethers.     Memories unite families, bridge the gap between  generations and are the glue that bind us together.  We really learn we are so much more than "scrap".   Do not throw away your valuable times with your families and friends.  This is the season to "cherish" and "cherish is the reason..."

         Family  legacies of faith and fun are kept alive as we share holidays together.  View the last two blogs to learn more   The stories told of their families and how they had managed thru difficult times showed the roses so beautifully. In years past they were playmates in the orphanages.  Now they were sharing losses of spouses and old friends.  Life sails by and we miss the beauty of each passing day by rushing too fast past memory lane.    Celebrate each season you are in and share the joy of it!

 

        There was one wall in the hotel filled with large, medium and smaller cylinders.  They had beautiful rose buds floating in a row .  I loved the patterns that were reflected.  The precious people I met so displayed the beauty in these vases.   I saw and heard the love and joy of old   friends  reuniting.    The wall to my heart these precious friends  display is much more beautiful than a thousand walls of roses.   Their fragrance will last forever.   You will not have to keep changing the display  and adding fresh flowers.  Stories of the heart last forever. They can be viewed by all. 

  

Ceremony outside and a Rabbi singing!

       This weekend I listened slowly and absorbed fragments to pass on to my children.  Life lessons  enhance future generations.   I so remember my grandmother sharing recipes with mom.   She loved us tenderly and spoiled us wonderfully.   I am so excited to "grandmother" next May.  Love passing from one generation to the next.  We must hold tightly the values we share and the faith we resemble. 

  

        I could not smell the roses in the vases.  However, the fragrance of cherished lives I met is lingering.   It will forever be remembered.   I saw in these heroic people that love wins out.  Love and laughter can only help soften the tears.  Tragedies are buried forever in the heart.  I had tears as  I listened.  What could I do to soften the pain?

       We as Americans were attempting to bring closure to buried hurts.  We were attempting to  acknowledge our guilt in turning the ship away.   A Congressional Resolution was being signed.  Now  ownership was shifting.   How many times do we dodge responsibility to a friend?   When have we turned our hearts away from doing what is best in a situation?   Compromise is the enemy of the soul.  We all tread water and think  we can make it when we join the current of pressure.  I do not know what FDR faced in his soul as he sent the ship away.

      I am attempting to be a love connection.  This weekend  connected me.  My faith compels me to continue.   My heart leaves a  trail of roses  behind the event,  to all the wonderful people who  made it happen.  Thank you for being a love connection.   In our own room we can re-arrange the furniture of our thoughts.   We can rehang memories that will endure the test of time.  We can love lots, kiss slowly, color outside the lines and see joy light up a face when we learn to live from the inside out.  Live to laugh.  Love to live.  

Saying goodbye to Rosemary...Old friends

  A REUNION!