In 2002, Jonathan Mooney and a small entourage made a 2 day visit to our farm in a well worn short bus, part of Mooney’s ‘epic journey’ to “learn from others once labeled abnormal who have learned to live in beautifully original ways.” The result of his time here with Katie (my daughter) and our family is a chapter in Mooney’s new book, “The Short Bus, A Journey Beyond Normal.” As one would expect, Jonathan tells his story about his visit with Katie and our family through a prism of his own perspective, and while there are few paragraphs in chapter twelve that make me cringe, I am proud to say he captures the power of relationships, presence and participation, and thus the essence of the story we had hoped he would.
He begins chapter twelve this way, “it took a leap of faith to get me to the Basford family farm.” He is referring to the old, through-truss metal bridge he had to drive the bus across to get to our farm. What he probably doesn’t know is that for me, faith to cross that old bridge pales in comparison to the faith it took to agree to his interview, knowing all the while that our life stories would be retold in another’s voice (and published) without any chance to review or comment. Now, that’s scary.
Jonathan is coming back to Ohio on Sunday, April 13 & Monday, April 14, this time on a book tour. For more information about Jonathan’s tour go to www.jonathanmooney.com or my web site.
