Emotions

Yesterday was my 63rd birthday so I was flooded with memories.

Meet Unicorn, a Diné Churro (four-horned sheep) traditionally cared for by native peoples in New Mexico.

San Francisco has seen its share of boom and bust cycles: the Gold Rush, the 1906 earthquake and fire, the sexual liberation of the hippie 60s and 70s and the AIDS epidemic of the 80s, the dot-com boom and bust, the Great Recession, the Pandemic and remote work phenomenon and, finally, however you would currently describe the “balagan” (chaos in Yiddish) that describes the current state of this 7-mile by 7-mile earthly bardo.

Traveling through Italy brought up some memories for me, including one that is bittersweet. I was 20 years old and going to college in England for a quarter. Along the way, I decided to trek to Florence to see some college friends studying there. If you can believe it, I wore my hair like Peter Frampton, long wavy curls (yep, I'd gotten a perm). I even carried a guitar with me, playing the role of the melancholy artist—my self-delusion of uniqueness.

I was touched reading a philosophy professor share his nearly-end-of-life story in the Washington Post with the title, “As my end nears, I crave the soul-to-soul connection of seeing friends in person.” (https://tinyurl.com/zoom-friends-dying)

When you randomly encounter the same person twice in one week, you take notice, right? What happens when it’s a new concept that lands in your lap back-to-back?

Luke Skywalker. Moana. Harry Potter. And now: Barbie.

I've always believed that one's purpose in life can often be distilled down to a series of choices we make based on the experiences we've had and the insights we've gained. For the longest stretch of my existence, I’ve lived to serve, to give, to nourish others with unwavering dedication.

“A narrow escape from danger or disaster.” That is the definition of a “close call.”

Okay, I’m not going to be a rumor-monger and suggest that these two icons had a thing going on (Chip, did you really write that?!), but they both captured my heart and, yet, I wish I’d gotten to know them a little more deeply.