To set the mood, here’s a song by the lovely Ms. Mitchell. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
That was just a dream some of us had
Still a lot of lands to see
But I wouldn’t want to stay here
It’s too old and cold and settled in its ways here
Oh but California
California I’m coming home
I’m going to see the folks I dig
I’ll even kiss a Sunset pig
California I’m coming home
We’ve done it. We’ve mustered the courage, and decided it’s time to go home. We’ve notified the bosses, given our landlord notice, convinced my best bud to let us crash at her house, my parents have graciously offered to babysit the pups for the transition…and we’re off. 28 days and counting. San Francisco here we come.
They weren’t with me
When I was taken in to die.
They were in Spain.
They lay on a bed in Grenada
With the phone to their ear
And they cried when they told them,
Cried into the phone.
I know that much.
I was kept for them
Curled in a frozen sleep
Until they came back.
They dug a hole then
(He and his friend dug a hole then)
On the point, by the ocean
Where all the others had been laid:
Poochie, Jennifer, Harry, Andrew, Jane,
and the cats
Cunegonde, Sarah, Leslie, Dorothy, Jake.
They dug a hole and put me in it.
Gentle Diane, the potter,
Baked clay biscuits for me
Placed them.
(Very Egyptian for an Irish Wolfhound… .
…but nice.)
I liked being with all the others,
On the point, by the ocean,
Especially Andrew, especially Jake.
I wonder -
- when it comes time
For the diggers, for gentle Diane,
Will they be put here too?
On the point? By the ocean? With us?
I hope so.
My first, yes…I said it. My FIRST attempt at video editing. What better subject to try this out this my dearest pooch, Archie. Love you.
Ring the bell that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
Oh, if I’d only seen…
Happy Birthday to me. 3.0.
The only people who ever get anyplace interesting are the people who get lost.
The Manifesto of Encouragement
Right now:
There are Tibetan Buddhist monks in a temple in the Himalayas endlessly reciting mantras for the cessation of your suffering and for the flourishing of your happiness.
Someone you haven’t met yet is already dreaming of adoring you.
Someone is writing a book that you will read in the next two years that will change how you look at life.
Nuns in the Alps are in endless vigil, praying for the Holy Spirit to alight the hearts of all of God’s children.
A farmer is looking at his organic crops and whispering, “nourish them.”
Someone wants to kiss you, to hold you, to make tea for you. Someone is willing to lend you money, wants to know what your favourite food is, and treat you to a movie. Someone in your orbit has something immensely valuable to give you — for free.
Something is being invented this year that will change how your generation lives, communicates, heals and passes on.
The next great song is being rehearsed.
Thousands of people are in yoga classes right now intentionally sending light out from their heart chakras and wrapping it around the earth.
Millions of children are assuming that everything is amazing and will always be that way.
Someone is in profound pain, and a few months from now, they’ll be thriving like never before. They just can’t see it from where they’re at.
Someone who is craving to be partnered, to be acknowledged, to ARRIVE, will get precisely what they want — and even more. And because that gift will be so fantastical in it’s reach and sweetness, it will quite magically alter their memory of angsty longing and render it all “So worth the wait.”
Someone has recently cracked open their joyous, genuine nature because they did the hard work of hauling years of oppression off of their psyche — this luminous juju is floating in the ether, and is accessible to you.
Someone just this second wished for world peace, in earnest.
Someone is fighting the fight so that you don’t have to.
Some civil servant is making sure that you get your mail, and your garbage is picked up, that the trains are running on time, and that you are generally safe. Someone is dedicating their days to protecting your civil liberties and clean drinking water.
Someone is regaining their sanity. Someone is coming back from the dead. Someone is genuinely forgiving the seemingly unforgivable. Someone is curing the incurable.
You. Me. Some. One. Now.
Bummin around New Mexico with my favorite hiker buddy.
