1. It turned out that Debbie wanted to stay in and rest on this blustery day in Long Beach, IN. I did the same. We had a very quiet day. Possibly we'll feel more like going out into the local world tomorrow.
2. I continued to listen to Sy Montgomery's book, The Soul of an Octopus. In today's chapters, Montgomery dives into the underworld of the Caribbean Sea. She narrates her ecstatic experience as, for the first time, she observes and interacts with octopuses (and other marine life) in the wild, rather than in an aquarium. Montgomery's nearly hallucinatory experience underwater contrasts with the inevitability that spending time with octopuses in captivity leads to experiencing their death. Seen in human terms, octopuses have a short life span. Thus, Montgomery faces the emotionally draining reality of growing close to certain octopuses and grieving their loss when they die.
3. When I posted a picture of Brian, Debbie, and me on Facebook and wrote about imagining being back in the classroom discussing Lulu Miller's book, Why Fish Don't Exist with imaginary students and expressed my wish that Rita and I could have assigned this book in our composition/philosophy class twenty-five or so years ago, I heard from some students and today I loved responding to them, inviting them to keep in touch if they'd like to. I'll admit it. Reading Mark's and Carolyn's and Alex's praise of the work we did together and reading Teresa's wish that she could have studied philosophy with me and Rita uplifted me, brought back a torrent of great memories of working with each of these students. Each of them, Mark, Carolyn, Alex, and Teresa made my work at LCC fulfilling and invigorating, helped me experience the epitome of the many joys I frequently experienced working with students.
When I return to visit Eugene (I wish this could be soon), I can see Mark. He's a chef with a thriving catering business. Teresa teaches elementary school in Nome, AK. Carolyn will be teaching a 200 level PSYCH course in the spring in Arizona (not sure, but I think at Yavapi College at the Verde Valley Campus). Alex has moved to Las Vegas and is returning to college to finish a degree.
Hearing from these former LCC students and sharing the Westminster Basement and Zoom time with former students, now great friends, from Whitworth fills me with happiness and affection. I love being retired, but being able to remember and experience the best of what I loved in my work makes me ecstatic -- I thought of this ecstasy as I read Sy Mongomery's euphoric descriptions of when she first dove underwater into octopus habitat. She in the Caribbean, I in this lake house were both transported into a rare and rapturous realm of existence.
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