Three Beautiful Things 03-06-2120: Saltine Crackers, Yakkin' with Gus, More Yakkin' with Jeff, (Update)

1. It probably doesn't sound like much, but it made a difference to me today. I shopped at Yoke's and bought a box of saltine crackers. Around the start of the new year, I'd quit buying saltine crackers. I got it my head that I was eating too many saltine crackers, but today I decided that saltine crackers would give me a lift. Buying a box of saltine crackers, coming home and eating some cheese and saltine crackers and later a few saltine crackers with butter and jam, comforted me. I filled in another square on my weekend comfort food Bingo card.

2.  I can't remember the last time I spent more time in one day talking on the telephone. Mike Masters called me shortly before noon to see how I was doing, tell me how things were with himself, swap some stories, reminisce about days gone by, and get some updates on mutual friends. He told me that at some point a couple of his Wardner friends nicknamed him "Mouse" and that gave me a chuckle and I didn't remember it. He also reminded me that when we played junior high basketball, his nickname was Gus -- as in former College of Idaho and Idaho Vandal great, Gus Johnson. I hadn't thought about that nickname for decades and it was a blast to remember when Mike was Gus. 

3. Around 9 p.m., Jeff Steve called me and we talked for a little over two hours. He had just finished watching Hamilton on Disney+ for the third time and called to ask if I'd seen it. I haven't. He told me about how and why Hamilton moves him and that catapulted us into a wide-ranging discussion about everything from Compline to the Tao to mutual friends we've known over the last nearly forty years to his kayak building business to his trip to Central America while at Whitworth to any number of other things. It was a scintillating conversation and a gave each of us the opportunity to reflect upon and talk about how our thinking about things and our spiritual experiences have evolved over the decades.

* A quick update: the Go Fund Me effort initiated by Ken Lilyblad's family to defray the costs of Ken's memorial service has set 4000 dollars as its goal. Just yesterday, this effort passed the 3000 dollar mark. They will reach their goal if they receive 870 dollars by Thursday. 

Want to help out? Here's the link: https://gofund.me/540b3f06