Highlights: I have a few days to reflect on, yet only one highlight matters. It's not the productive time I spent at Jikoji Friday morning actively participating as a community member and board member. It's not finally resolving the Wi-Fi issues with a complete reset of the primary base station. Or meeting with Frank and contacting Peggy. Or Jen's overnight stay at Christie's after a lot of wine. What stands out dramatically for me was getting a call from Tommy while at Kirkwood reporting having injured his ankle and likely needing to go to a hospital. I am being honest here, and I am not proud of it, but my initial reaction was a flood of anxiety and resentment, even at the possible scenarios that might play out. How do I get him, where do I take him, how bad may it be, and how would this inconvenience me? I was trying unsuccessfully to find his insurance information, which he should have had. It was so selfish, really, and as non-zen and unenlightened of a response to have. I wrestled with it all, knowing it was a poor, shortsighted response, yet it was all so triggering. Mainly because of the sort of responsibility I felt throughout my first marriage to run ahead and prevent such things from happening. I also felt that my efforts to impart caution and proactive behaviors along the same lines of self-responsibility were never entertained or embraced. They were dismissed and discounted. Yet this moment, this situation, gave me a chance to look again and see him differently. He did get hurt, badly. And he called because I'm his father, family, and the first place I would want him to go. It's what I would have done. He had help there, friends there, and this was a significant moment. He wasn't reaching out for me to fix anything, he was calling so I was aware. That's a gift. Why I default to annoyance of any kind is absurd. I'm the one always calling chaos and need the richest reward of like. Ten helped as a sounding board, and I quickly reset how I moved forward. With gratitude. The onsite medical team helped at the outset, including a painful boot removal. Tommy then realized it would be best to go to Stanford. Stephen drove Tommy's Tesla down with Tommy in the passenger seat. Mark and I had plans to go to "Laser Zeppelin" at the planetarium and he arrived at Stanford around the same time the show would end. We went up and took turns going to check on him, and then I took Mark home and returned to Stanford. I told Tommy repeatedly how glad I was to be there. We talked about assorted things while he got things settled and stabilized. The swelling was such that surgery, which would be required, had to happen after a day or two. We left around 3am, and I spent the day doing all I could, all we could, to help support his recovery and to navigate adapting to an injury of this significance. I am grateful that it was not worse, and that he handled it all with grace and responsibility. This will be an event that will be remembered for the way it will shape it. And I got to be a part of it. He's riding out the pain while awaiting surgery later this week once the swelling subsides. This was a significant experience in his life and he handled it so well. I also got to/had to bring a level of awareness and gratitude into my response to it all, which was both a challenge and rewarding.
