No, these friends are the folks who you met when Serendipity had her way with you long ago. Somehow, these friendships have endured even though you don’t live near each other, don’t look the same, or don’t live comparable lives. And, yet, when you gaze at the evolution of these friendships, you realize you’ve lived parallel lives with these dear kin. You can finish each other’s sentences like few others you know.
I met Michael Franti, by chance, 35 years ago when I was a boy with a rock ‘n roll motel and he was a boy with a band. While Michael was based in San Francisco, his band flew in from Philly and elsewhere and they converged at my place, The Phoenix, multiple times. Michael and I stayed lightly in touch over the years as he became an award-winning, famous singer, songwriter, and activist. Whenever we connected in person, there was almost a conspiratorial knowingness that gave us the sense we were on the same team. We both shared a love of Bali, basketball, and the Bay Area.
Then, 20 years ago, Michael decamped to Ubud, Bali and created Soulshine, a wellness resort and retreat center and I became his mentor as he navigated being a hospitality entrepreneur. A decade later, he married Sara poolside at The Phoenix, a year later Michael played my 55th birthday party in Pescadero, Baja, just as I was conceiving of MEA, my retreat center to match Michael’s. This is a friendship made in the cosmos as our connection feels otherworldly. I smiled when I saw that his concert tour this year was called the “Togetherness Tour” as that’s what we feel for each other. And, he started that tour the week after he taught our very-first MEA workshop on the ranch.
Starting on Michael’s 59th birthday, he and I will be co-leading a feel-good workshop at our Santa Fe campus (April 21-26) called “Finding Your Rhythm in Midlife and Beyond.” I can tell you that everyone who was in the workshop earlier this year became a raving fan (and friend) of Michael’s. We even wrote a song together with the cohort and we’ll do that again this spring. I hope you can join us to celebrate finding your own rhythm while finding the rhythm of friendship. Here’s Michael’s Instagram video explaining how much he enjoyed this year’s Santa Fe workshop. This one will sell out so don’t delay. Come celebrate Michael’s birthday.
-Chip