Memorial Day

Thought I'd make just a quick entry here, since the weather is beautiful, I'm expecting even more out-of-town visitors, and really don't intend to spend too much more of my day huddled over a computer screen rather than engaging with the real world face to face. But I do want to report that I was feeling good enough yesterday morning to attend church, and had a very lovely time: heard colleague Peter Richardson preach (as you might imagine) a VERY solid sermon on "the inherent worth and dignity of every person," and just delighted in being part of the congregation. And, of course, left feeling more energized and inspired when I arrived...which was a nice reminder that this is how I want EVERYONE who worships with us at First Parish on a Sunday Morning to feel as they return to the world afterwards.

And then, when I returned home (for those of you who don't religiously read all of the comments to this blog as well as the blog itself) I found this waiting for me:

You are an amazing man. Maybe you'd rather be blogging about living on a boat, floating free of of the constraints of a land bound life, but the humor and honesty and love with which you tell your story is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. I do live on a boat and have the life you dream of so please allow me share it with you vicariously. Welcome aboard! Kathleen Jones www.dejavuchronicles.blogspot.com

So part of yesterday afternoon at least I was able to spend in the Western Caribbean, enjoying the virtual hospitality of some expatriate Maniacs with whom the blogosphere has somehow mysteriously connected me simply because of shared interests, a common passion, and some some sort of mutual acquaintance. Just Like Church.

And then finally, this from the UU World. I've been a huge admirer of Forrest Church since the moment I met him back in 1978, when I had first started working with Rhys Williams as a Harvard Divinity School Field Education Student intern at the First & Second Church in Boston, and Forrest had just left his position there as the Assistant Minister in order to become the Minister at All Souls. This was all a little controversial at the time, because Forrest had not been through the MFC and was not in Fellowship with the UUA, and had basically been put forward by Rhys for the vacant pulpit at All Souls outside of "official" UUA channels. Had I known then what I understand now about the historical connections between All Souls and the Second Church in Boston, I probably wouldn't have felt quite so scandalized by all that as I felt at the time, even though subsequent events I think have shown pretty dramatically that (notwithstanding Forrest's own human foibles) Rhys's instincts were correct. Gosh -- 30 years ago. Pretty amazing when you stop to think about it.

Ended up the day with a road trip to Bonobos -- the local pizza restaurant where I often ate dinner on Sunday evenings "back in the day" before my diagnosis. Afterwards, Erik and I kicked back to watch the first three quarters of the Lakers/Spurs game, at which point I simply couldn't hold my eyes open any longer, and called it a night. But Bonobos was another great morale booster -- barely accessible, but we managed...and while we were there I met someone sitting at the next table who has just moved to the West End from San Diego in the past week, where she had been a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation there for over a decade! So another serendipitous encounter on the wheelchair ramp of life. It's one of the great things I love about living in the city, and one of the things I miss most about not being able to get around too much on my own any more.

Or at least not for the time being....