1. I hopped in the Camry and blazed over the 4th of July Pass, eased into Coeur d'Alene, and met Jeff Steve, up for a visit from Ventura, at the Daft Badger. Jeff and I fell immediately into easy conversation about all sorts of things: the good old days (!) back in Eugene, people we both know from Coeur d'Alene and Whitworth, Jeff's plans to go to the Oregon Country Fair on Sunday (he last went to the Fair in 1991), and a host of other topics. We have a lot of fun talking about our experiences with the Presbyterian Church, Jeff's time years ago when he was involved in a house church, and how we've both read and been inspired by spiritual traditions outside of Christianity, including the Tao, the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh, the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and more.
2. I told Jeff how much I enjoy that we talk about the things we do. Driving home, I thought a lot about how indebted I am to Rita Hennessy for our work teaching together and our friendship, how both of us could talk easily about a variety of spiritual experiences, Western as well as Eastern inspired, and how this was exactly what we talked in about in our last conversation back in November before she died a few weeks later. Rita was dying just as she had lived, in the embrace of writings and conversations about love and joy.
3. Not long after I returned home, Debbie and I sauntered into the The Lounge and had a great time yakkin' with Cas and Tracy and later with Ed who saw our car parked nearby and joined us for a beer.
Debbie got to yak with her fellow teacher, Deanne, and I talked with Cas about this week in fantasy baseball. Our teams are facing one another in the head to head league this week and Cas's squad is creaming mine. I just have to laugh at how really lousy my team's luck has been this week -- after a couple or three weeks of pretty good luck and solid performances.
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