I'd planned on doing the online Zazen with Deepbow when I was approached about walking the dogs. 3-1, they won. The photo above was taken the morning I walked out and into. I think it was a good choice. I ended up meeting Frank for coffee anyway, and the discussion was valuable and encouraging. He's a far more 'science' based person, and my desires related to anything 'mindful' are to avoid the more 'whoo whoo' aspects, as I've mentioned elsewhere. He's in that same camp. It's a challenging situation exacerbated by my uncertainty about what defines awareness and spirituality and what falls into ignorance or gullibility. The good thing about the space I've been occupying all year related to Zen and related views is the intentions of all, whoo whoo or not, being genuine, sincere, and reasonable. That being said, I've seen identity attached to intention, where things get questionable. I'm still in a state of curiosity, though. What an incredible year this has been to have had the time to spend on this stuff. I also had another excellent call with Lauren today as we discussed more ideas and action items related to CVI. It was heartwarming that Jen called her last night to express interest and support, too. Have I ever mentioned how insane it seems that we ended up as a family? Played online cards tonight with TBDs. Great fun. Always is. I took over cleaning, picking up, and being 'house husband' since Jen's on a full-time working schedule again. Tommy's been set to start his internship at Stanford, working with kids in intense medical situations. I believe it will be intense, rewarding and likely a significant insight into the fortunes and limitations of life and medicine.
