Happy three quarters of a century!

Arta Blanche Pilling
born May 8, 1940

With you I have
-played badminton
-baked a cake
-taken long walks
-been to China
-received comfort
-laughed
-studied a worm
-walked along the Mediterranean Sea
-co-owned a home
-chased down someone fleeing from the scene of a crime
-seen Niagara Falls
-been to my first opera
-written a graduation speech
-attended the Kiwanis
-eaten Leonidas
-swam in the Shuswap
-slept under the stars
-experienced Beowulf live

-purchased Scotch mints from the Sears bulk candy bins

-had a Frozen Malt from outside the Bay
-been to the circus

-learned to read

-gone Visiting Teaching
-discovered that there are both foreground and backgound
-been a member of CSWAC
-heard bell hooks, Andrea Dworkin, and Kate Millet speak
-sat beside your father Doral in his last days
-taken Yoga lessons
-attended my first gay pride march
-marched to Take Back the Night
-cast a ballot in an election
-been the temple
-shared all my secrets
-driven to Barnwell
-been to a Hutterite Colony
-recovered from surgery
-seen a bear and the scarf it tried on
-hiked up Mt. Revelstoke
-gardened

-written a five-minute talk
-made cinnamon buns
-canoed across the lake
-sewed a wool suit
-made mints
-been to the library
-purchased a hammock
-eaten a picnic

-run laundry through the ringer on the porch of the Noisy House
-skipped stones
-seen the Eiffel Tower
-had my first breath of air

Thank you for the many gifts you have given me, especially courage, strength, and wonder.