My son Micah and I attended the Preservation on Main Street (POMS) conference this week. It’s hosted by Florida Main Street and the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation and is 5 days packed with things to learn about placemaking and preserving historic assets. I was also honored to co-teach a session this year with preservation guru Christine Dalton and master designer Barry Meindl on fun and impactful ways to incorporate your history and architecture into your community fabric.

Barry and I also got to unveil our new collaboration with Roots Creative Co., “Map to Main” and share ways we can help communities make their dreams a reality.

In addition to POMS Conference sessions, each year they set up tours to explore the host area. This year’s conference, held in Tallahassee, had the extra benefit of celebrations for the city’s 200th anniversary.

Our first night’s adventure took us to The Grove Museum which has been beautifully curated. The grounds are exceptionally maintained and Micah and I explored them and found the family cemetery.

I was studying the gravestone of Florida First Lady Mary Call Darby Collins when Micah called me over to a puzzling epitaph.

“We cannot name one tender tie, but here dissolved its ruins lie.”

Before long, a half dozen of us were gathered around the resting place of Dr. John L. Call (who departed this lift at the tender age of 27) trying to think of a less sad interpretation of this inscription. We didn’t get very far. Every offered interpretation seemed more sad than the last.

I’m not sure what the writer intended to convey about Dr. Call almost 200 years ago, but I do know I want my epitaph to be different.

In this 2024 Dumpster Fire we are experiencing between bizarre political campaigns, unnerving inflation, and seemingly endless church leader scandals, I can still focus on ways to make the spaces I am in better. I can keep asking myself the following:

• How can I better love my family?
• How can I help my neighbors?
• How can I best serve my city?
• How do my friends need me to show love?

We don’t need piles of cash, large amounts of time, or even big ideas to make the spaces we occupy better than we found them. We can choose to not be sidetracked by the bad news we can’t change and instead focus on the good things we can make happen.

Let’s commit together to redeeming the last six months of 2024 and creating LOTS of enduring tender ties.