A New Day

I woke up at 4:30 in the morning to take two of the brothers, Roy and Laurence, to the airport. They are flying to meet the other three brothers at West Park, where the annual conference for their order is taking place.

Because Roy and Laurence plan on staying in New York for a bit after the conference, they will not be around when I finish my retreat next Friday. So I'm grateful to have had this past weekend with them, to enjoy their company and say goodbye properly. Together we cleaned the house, watched movies, sipped through a few bottles of wine, and shared a sumptuous meal of leftovers with a couple of local friends. It was a great way to spend the weekend because, of the five brothers, I've gotten to know these two the best. Roy was my movie buddy and the person with whom I would talk about life and art. I have great affection for Roy, whose stillness and gentleness permeates down to the way he tenderly pours out communion wine. And Laurence and I ran errands for the house together every Friday morning. Besides being an accomplished astronomer, Laurence has a real passion for politics and social justice. I will miss having both of them in my lives every day.

After dropping Roy and Laurence at the airport, I decided to stay up and watch the sunrise. The sky was still dark and the moon overhead when I returned from the airport. The moon stayed visible well past dawn, despite the rapid encroachment of the sun.






At one point, you could see both sun and moon as they shared the horizon:



In the video, you can hear how quiet the house and the surrounding valley is. It reminded me of a Carrie Underwood song that I've been listening to during the drive down the mountain into town. "Wasted," if you ignore the subtext about alcoholism and domestic abuse, perfectly captures what I'm hoping for this rumpspringa year:

I don't want to spend my life jaded, waiting
to wake up one day and find
that I let all these years go by wasted.

I don't want to keep on a-wishin', missing
the still of the morning, the color of the night
I ain't spendin' no more time wasted.