We had time this morning to have breakfast in Palm Harbor at Consciousness-Blossoms, a vegetarian restaurant owned by our friend and local coordinator for the World Harmony Run in the Tampa area, Tilvila. Needless to say, the food was fantastic! Fresh, delicious and nutritious vegetarian food tastes even better when it is free, as she kindly offered us all we could eat as another of her many offerings to the World Harmony Run.

Our first ceremony of the day was at the Center Academy in Palm Harbor. Deb Reedy, the teacher who helped organize this event with our coordinator, Terri, kindly welcomed us to this special school for children with special needs, interests and talents. We met with the children indoors as we shared our thoughts and efforts for world harmony. The children also offered their sentiments and shared some of their beautiful artwork with us as well.

Taking the Torch outdoors, Mrs. Reedy and some of the other teachers including Jessica Bodwell and Stacy Morrison, ran with the children around the playground to the excitement of everyone. It is always heartwarming to see how much effort goes into creating a harmonious learning environment for children of all ages such as they are doing so well at the Center Academy.

It took about an hour to get to our next school meeting in a community called Lutz. The Learning Gate Community School is a beautiful school set on 30 acres of land surrounded by trees, trails and nature's beauty. Their motto is: “Nature is our best teacher.” Michele Northrup worked with Tilvila to set up an awesome program with the whole school of 457 children plus teachers, staff and some parents involved. We gathered in the large auditorium before going outside.

After a warm introduction by Michele, our team of four men and four women introduced ourselves and talked a bit about harmony and friendship on a global and local level. The children answered many questions related to harmony and also had very interesting questions for us. A large orchestra of acoustic guitars played our World Harmony Run theme song and then we all sang with them. The whole place almost shook as the children and adults chanted in loud unison our motto, “Harmony begins with me.”

The excitement continued as we took the Torch outdoors and formed a long harmony train as the students followed the torch being carried by one of the teachers. As we jogged and walked through the winding trails through the trees, the children next to me started singing a song with all the United States in alphabetical order. They were quite young children, 10 or 11 years old, but many of them knew the order perfectly. They sang it beautifully and then performed it once more for some of the parents and teachers as well.

After some photos taken with children and family, we had to tear ourselves away from this wonderful school and campus, set in harmony with the environment and the beauty of nature.

After another long drive to the Countryside Recreation Center, we had some time to wait for the children to be ready for us. Some of us were able to use some of the exercise equipment in this very well equipped facility. We then met with the children and staff outside on the lawn under a large tree. These natural settings are always quite conducive to a harmonious experience. It was a small group of children in the after school program that was able to meet with us and share inspiration about harmony and friendship. After our short presentation and singing of our theme song, Paul Roskey, one of the staff members there who helped to organize the meeting, carried the Torch as the 'engine' of the harmony train with the children behind him.

We are very grateful to the Countryside Recreation Center for taking part in our event and welcoming us with warm hospitality. We are also grateful to all of our local team members who did so much to take care of us including, Tilvila, Ahana, Carol, Mimini, Terri, Katya, Norma and Linda.

We had a chance to finish our time in Florida with a quick swim in the Gulf of Mexico. We had lots of fun with the seagulls.

Mrs. Margaret Borkowski, the General Manager of La Quinta Hotel where we have stayed the past few nights, kindly offered us these accommodations as an offering to the efforts of the World Harmony Run. We are so grateful to her and La Quinta for these very clean and comfortable rooms. We were fortunate this morning to meet with her and take a few photos with her in front of the hotel. We are also thrilled that she is the mother of a good friend of ours in New York.

Arpan and the traveling World Harmony Run Team.

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