Like many of us, I stayed up too late last night and spent much of today riveted to the TV watching rescuers pull he Chilean miners out of the earth. It's an incredible story of humanity, compassion and determination--I admire those miners more than I can say, but I also admire the six rescuers who went underground to help them out (as I write three of the rescuers are out). The reunion scenes have brought tears to the eyes but also joy in seeing how vital and enthusiastic these men are. They've all come out making thumbs-up signs or more, hugging everyone--it's just a joy to watch. As for the man whose mistress met him while his wife stayed away--well, let's hope there's not a different story of heartbreak there. I predict someone--or several someones--will get best-selling books out of this. It may be one of those rush-to-print cases, to see who can be the first with an authoritative story. On the other hand, I much admire the Chilean government's obvious tight control on this story--I heard this morning that the rescues were only broadcast on the government station with a 30-second delay in case of unforeseen circumstances. Thankfully, there have been none so far. But the government may also control access to the miners and their stories. One thing for sure: life will never be the same for any of them. I'm just now seeing how much they're being offered for interviews, etc.--probably more money than any of them dreamed of. It will be interesting to see how the individual men handle this sudden fame and heroic status. Life may never be the same for the rest of us, now we can see what a world community can do with joint effort. It makes wars fade into the background, even if only briefly.
On a much lighter note, I had a self-indulgent dinner of chicken-fried steak at the Star Cafe tonight. I split one order with Cara Gilger, who several years ago was a TCU student, active in our church, and a waitress--ooops, wait person--at the Star. She wormed her way into our hearts, and Betty and I were both delighted to see her tonight. She's grown up, married, a minister, and an expectant mother--all the things we could wish for our protege. And she's still her iconoclastic self--a devout person with a sharp tongue. What a great combination.
Other than that, it's been one of those days that makes me wonder how I can be so busy in retirement that I have no time to write and barely fit in exercise. Went to a luncheon today to hear Karla Morton, poet laureate of the State of Texas. Karla, a delightful, energetic person with wonderful stage presentation, is a dedicated Texan and a cancer survivor, and she writes mind-boggling accessible poetry about those subjects and others. For her latest book go to http://www.prs.tcu.edu/. I'm at the point with TCU Press that they're still pubishing books that I acquired, and it makes me proud to see them come into print.
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