PlantingProject.org

I came across an article yesterday offering an interesting reason that living in the city might be a good idea. Check it out:

Slumming It in Your McMansion

I’m heading out in a few minutes to meet a friend and join a gym in Decatur. I’m excited about this for a lot of reasons.

• The gym membership is being covered, so I don’t have to use money I don’t have. This is a huge answered prayer.
• I get to hang out with one of my closest and oldest friends each morning that we work out.
• Working out in the same place, at the same time, in a smaller gym, every week will help me meet people in the community.
• Apparently Jane Fonda works out at this particular gym, which obviously means that this hip urban gym in Decatur is the coolest place ever (sarcasm).

I can’t believe I forgot to mention this, but last week after leaving my meeting with the Decatur Volunteer Coordinator I was walking past Eddie’s Attic and I saw Eddie. So I went up, introduced myself and asked if we could meet to talk about Decatur sometime this week, because Eddie has been in Decatur as long as anyone and he knows everyone. He gave me his cell number and I’m going to call him this week to set up a meeting.

I don’t think this is going to change the owner’s mind about letting us rent the space (Eddie isn’t the owner anymore and the owner said they couldn’t do it) but I think he’s a great contact to have in Decatur, so I’m excited.

My meeting with the volunteer coordinator for the city went really well. Hopefully I will be getting involved in the MLK weekend home repair project. I’m hoping to be able to help with the planning and execution of the project.

I just had a fantastic meeting with the Mayor of Decatur, Bill Floyd. I really don’t think it could have gone any better. He told me all about the city and what was going on. He had some good thoughts on ways that I might be able to connect and serve. He was excited about us being here and enthusiastic about what we want to do and how we want to do it. And, he gave me some ideas on some huge ways that I can play an important role in helping the City Government connect with the people of the city through websites. In fact, I may be setting up a blog for the mayor! How cool is that?

I have another meeting later today with the City Volunteer Coordinator, this will be an important meeting. And, I am hoping to drop in on the City Communications person to talk about some of the things the Mayor and I were discussing. I’ll keep you posted, this is really exciting stuff!