Boston, New York, Tempe, Colorado

The past weeks have been something of a blur. Zach graduated on the 21st and his family (minus Austin) joined us for the occasion and the visit was fun and wonderful! Zach surprised everyone by graduating Magna! I'm so proud of my MTS graduate! And Dr. Walters gave the greatest, most inspiring graduation speech I've heard. He spoke of Jesus' temptations in the desert as symbollic of the temptations that dreamers face during their quest after the dream. How often do you enjoy a graduation ceremony?!

The night of graduation, my sister, Laura, made an apparently perilous trek by bus from New York to Boston. At the station in NY, she was accosted by a plain clothes police officer certain that she was a run-away. She refused to go with the officer until he produced two other officers in uniform who insisted that she follow them to call her parents. The fact that she had lost her cell phone and that she offered the number of her chaparone (she was on a senior class trip) didn't seem to help her story. Fortunately, after the officer terrified our dad- "This is Bob with the NYPD, do you have a daughter named Laura?"- she was able to take her bus and, hours later, arrived safely in Boston with a very adventurous story to tell.

We are going to Arizona in one week for the same sister's high school graduation. I am very stoked to see some old friends, and hit the old places, especially the one and only Changing Hands Bookstore- the very first new, used, and independent bookstore of my life.

One week after we return, we're flying to Denver and the unknown.

Yesterday was exactly six weeks from our date of departure! I'm feeling it coming!

In the wake of Barbara

Our excursion to Washington DC was marvelous (minus the adventurous return trip). The talk/reading was very enjoyable. Barbara K. has a melodic, poised and perfectly accentless speaking voice (surprising as she is Kentuckyan). The talk, as well as my dips into her book, has left me far more aware of the food that I consume on a daily basis and the way that my food choices impact everyone from small farmers to the environment. Lest this become another one of those blogs, I won't go on with environmental jargon but will say that once again, Barbara has chosen a very important human issue and written about it with perspective, charisma, humor, and deep sincerity. When she signed our books, she was so personable and inviting that I ventured a nerdy comment about how I read her books in high school and was from Tempe AZ. She responded very graciously and even commented on Zach's excessively nerdy "Stop Mountaintop Removal" shirt. What a wonderful gift from my Zach.

We also lunched with Alex, our friend from Abilene who roomed with Zach across several undergraduate years. It was wonderful and as Alex said, a miracle- like meeting someone from a different life. I hope he will come visit us in Boston before we leave.

Yesterday I finished a book by Jane Goodall called _Reason for Hope_. I love that despite her scientific background, she is a mystic and a very faithfilled person. I hope that one day I will be as filled with peace as she is. Her book and story have inspired me not to give up on my hope of a meaningful career and a very deliberate life. Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. I doing my best to wait quietly and hopefully to hear what I must do.

Congratulations to Katie and Jeremiah. I know I've been waiting for this news for a long time. I wish you both happiness and fulfillment in one another. Blessings!