Added thought from Stacy, who took notes Thursday and would like to add the following email she received from Liz on Oct. 6, regarding this quote: “Dr. Jane chose, every single day, to make the world better. I hope, in her honor, we all choose the same.” Now, back to last week’s meeting:  

Kevin noted, “at the risk of offending some of our guests today,” he welcomed all “to the best Rotary Club in the world” which brough cheers. He also added “I’m sure also, like you, your members all arrive on time,” and ready to start the meeting,” and when latecomers arrive, we’ll be sure to welcome them.”  Visiting Rotarians included the speaker; guests for the meeting including Larkin Evans, still a guest until she fills out her application, Kevin said. He went on to note that next week’s meeting will be a social at 5 p.m. on Thursday, so we’re not going to have a meeting, at noon at the library. He asked for suggestions for where to have it; Sue has offered to hold the Christmas party at her house; location suggestions included from Stacy, though we just had a social at her house so it might be a bit soon; so her home is available if needed. Kevin thought we might do it at a local restaurant or bar, or whatever … Ralph also noted that since Kevin had a new remodel at his home, (“We’re close” his wife Debbie said, according to Kevin.) The Polio Plus jar went around. We’re this close, Kevin said, holding up two fingers very close together and noting that now polio was now in two countries,  Afghanistan and Pakistan. And Oct. 24 is World Polio Day. He’s not sure how we will recognize that day, but “we will do something.” He noted that the small donations jar is also going around.

He said there’s already a donation in there because our new member would like to share some information about her business. 

The new member, Karen Senffner, said she was looking for a long time and is happy now to have found a place to practice in – Shoreline Station. To tell about her business: She is a physical therapist, has been one for 34 years, and the particular technique she does is called “zero balancing.” It is centered at the level of bone, and helps relieve the stresses that all of us hold, following something recent like an accident, a fall, surgery, or something carried with us for a long time. She noted that this is not traditional physical therapy; Kevin noted that he and friends have found physical therapy very hard to get following procedures such as like joint replacements, “you have to wait a long time.” She thanked us for taking time to listen to her. 

John Evans was asked for an update on our exchange students. He mentioned Suzanne’s tennis buddy Emma Todd, (Suzanne was an exchange student here two years ago), and exchange students Pascal (exchange student from Italy) and Vicki (an exchange student with a San Mateo Rotary Club) were invited to go with Emma’s family to Gilroy to go apple-picking in orchards there (he was happily eating an apple right then from one of those orchards.) He said that besides apples there were pears, avocados and peaches. What was really interesting, he said, was to see the three teenagers having a great time. Vicki and Pascal had met, but had not met Emma, and John said it was like they all were kindred spirits, laughing and singing in the back seat and unaware of the adults in the front seat paying attention to them. He added that recently they had gotten an unexpected face-time call from Caroline from Belgium, an exchange student 10 years ago that many of us remembered. She is now 27 and she was talking about how different her life is now than when she was a teenager. She is now, this week,  in her second year of residency; last year she was in an ER residency and this year an OB-GYN residency. For six years. This is all in Brussels. She said, be sure and say hi. 

Kevin said, such a wealth to have these relationships with these young people. Just to add to that, another club member added, many years ago, their girls went over to Taiwan for high school, played basketball, and next year the Taiwanese kids came over and played basketball here. But when they arrived, we were all set up to play basketball, but they weren’t basketball kids, they were dancers. Which created a little problem but not much; they went and they danced at all these things. These girls did not speak much English, and our girls didn’t speak any Taiwanese, but they stayed with us for about three days … and they got in the hot tub and they were just chattering away, and we had no idea how they were communicating but they were.

Kevin asked for any other announcements?

Liz said the had one from Drew from the school district for those of us that signed up for Principal for a Day next Tuesday from 9 to 11: He will be sending us confirmations of our assignments; there was some playful bantering between Barb and Kevin about schools; Barb has Cunha and Kevin will go to Farallone View. Barb has a lot of relationships; she successfully pleaded her case, Kevin said. 

Kevin said that we have an exciting meeting today, for two reasons: one, we get to learn more about one of our new members, and two, we get to learn about a project that is “really innovative and exciting and will inspire us, hopefully, to do something that we would love to do here, locally.” We might even work with them, who knows.

SUE PRITCHARD  -  SHOP TALK

First of all, I’d like to ask Sue Pritchard to come up and do your shop talk. We call them “shop talks” because back in the day, you guys – especially the ones who have been around forever, who started the club – remember how it used to be about exchanging business leads and that kind of stuff? We called it a shop talk because it was about your business. We’ve always called it that, even though, really, what it has evolved to is just tell us about yourself, your family, that sort of thing. So, give Sue Pritchard a warm welcome!  (applause)

Sue said: I graduated from  U.C.L.A. with honors, (“Go Bruins!” Liz yelled,) and then my father died very, very suddenly. He was a founder of Long Beach Memorial Hospital, and my family just fell apart. Then I married somebody who ended up in law school in San Francisco, so there I was; and he become a hippie. So somehow, I survived all of that, which is delightful. I thought – the butterfly goes through an egg, and then a chrysalis, and they finally turn into a compound chrysalis and then an adult butterfly, and then the whole thing starts all over again. It’s a life cycle, and I’ve been through a lot of those. I’ve slept in a barn, I’ve slept in my car, I’ve been on food stamps, I‘ve been to Paris (couldn’t make the name of the location out) first class, and … I’ve painted in Monet’s garden twenty times, when only eight people were there, and it was a delight, an honor. I don’t know how I got there; it wasn’t just about money, it’s just that sometimes the universe puts you where you are supposed to be. I wanted to go to art school when I was a kid, (and) my father said oh no, no, no, you go to UCLA, become a teacher, and then you can support yourself the rest of your life, you won’t need to depend on anyone. And he was so right (laughter) … I was one of seven people that graduated from art school, and they were doing crayons – white crayons -- on white paper, and then maybe watercolor over that, so you could see the resist.  It was like kindergarten. And I was like, what’s going on here folks? … and they’ve done it all, it’s like boring, and then they started all over again, and I’m glad I didn’t go through that cycle. I learned how to paint on my own, I learned how to mosaic on my own, and I did that huge mosaic on the Goldworks building, Joe Cotchett hired me to do that, because I won a grant, and we were mosaicking Mac Dutra Park.