kitchen philosophy

it was so good to venture out into
the wild world of snow today
yes, there are actually two lane roads in this city
once you get past our street

it was weird maneuvering to get out of the driveway
right onto the Arctic circle

I missed going to work the last few days
my kids did not miss going to school
and my client was happy to see me as I was to see her

she is 93 years old with a bright clear
positive outlook on life
I wish I could give more details about her
but privacy issues and all that
when I see her daughter again,
I am going to ask her a few questions along those lines:
without mentioning her name, address, etc...
would it be ok with her if I shared stories
of our visits...

the family of my very first client asked me to
please share about their Dad
Bill Hume
artist and human being extraordinnaire
so I will share Mr. Hume stories from time to time

this afternoon after work
I stopped at the Salvation Army
they were open and will be in the morning so
I will take over some donations

of course I spent some time looking around
and found 6 fab brand new placemats
for 25-cents each
a book with the title of the first chapter "santa fe"
a vintage embroidery set/project (50-cents where's the
cents-symbol on this keyboard???)
and I spent time reading from a complete set of
the Great Books set of the Britannica series, I believe

there I am in Salvation Army reading Plato
and wanting to buy the entire 57 volume set
well, I am cleaning out so the vacuuum of space
is drawing my attention

the intro to the set contained the names of
the original founders of St. John's College
and I just smiled a while
and drove home happy to have
shovelled lots of snow recently
happy for the sun shining today

an especially great sight when I rounded the curve on our street
Brandon's car was tucked in
so all my guys were home! yay!

I yell up the stairs
they say Hi and BTW, Mom, we ARE watching a serious movie
oops, but I hug them both anyway
making sure they can see the screen and I can
feel close at the same time - we know how to do that

the movie was 1/2 over & over my head
it really was for the brothers to share
so I try to find my way to be around but not in the way
of their togetherness

it was a lifetime highlight for me, this evening
my boys were sharing philosophical ideas with each other
Brandon was guiding the discussion based on things he
is learning in classes at the university
and Bryan was right there with him
I asked if I could put in a little something here
or there and they were great about it
but mostly I listened; quiet on the couch
they were in the kitchen

it was so wonderful
these are my children / these two men
here they are talking on a deep and personal level
about things that really matter
the purpose of their lives
different perspectives approached with respect
and personal insights

Brandon apparently was "talking philosophy"
with a friend earlier today
then called his brother
brought the movie
and they took off together
a trip to Walden Pond with Thoreau,
thoughts of Emerson, on Idealism,
Buddhism, comparative religions
transcendental experiences shared
on and on
as I learned so much about who they are becoming
as individuals and together as brothers and friends...

there is a point when it wraps up
we talked about saying "I love you"
and we all ended up thanking each other
in very specific ways...

Socrates would have smiled
I cried
then laughed
as Brandon got on Facebook
Bryan and I watched a show on the
Biography of Pixar

Brandon left to meet friends at his place

what a gift of an evening
a lot of warmth in the midst of snow mountains