This is a beautiful Friday. The temperature has a hint of fall in it. A father and his little girl were getting ready to explore a trail in the Woods. The Old Man remembered all that he had not thought of, why he likes cool weather so much. The air is sweeter. No sweat. No cares or worries. An abundance of peace. I wrote of a magician pulling a rabbit out of his top hat. Today, I pulled out a happy laughing rabbit. I smiled when I saw him despite myself. It is not every day you pull a jovial rabbit. We need a laughing rabbit just now. One of my dear friends is ill in St. Louis. She and her family are wonderful people. We were colleagues for years, and she is inspirational.

I have another dear friend who is a bit lost and needs to find his way. The simple privilege of being in his presence lifts my day. He is kind and considerate. He is brilliant both in mind and personality.

We seek understanding among the ruins of society. We are a bit like Job scraping ourselves with shards of pottery. We look for the answer in others when we contain the solutions. We want to look behind the Veil. We want to see ourselves in a good light rather than looking through a mirror darkly. We live in a microcosm of God’s plan. Our Earth seems vast to us. However, what does it look like from his point of view? When we see each other as God sees us, we have an affinity for all. Life is bigger than the money we make or what we pay in taxes. We are participants in a Grand Experiment. We do not have a ticket to this ride, nor a ticket to get off.

We focus on minutiae. Such is our physical world. Our spirits desire to soar with the eagles. The doctor did not tell us when he extracted us from our mother’s belly and slapped us on our butt that this is a quick and exciting ride. We thought we would always be nursing at Mama’s breast. Soon, it was school days and all types of kids. Fat kids and skinny kids and kids who ride on bikes…short kids and even kids with chicken pox love hot dogs…Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs…the Dogs kids love to eat,’ the television commercial said. What a rush life is! Then there is love and marriage and pushing a baby carriage…Frank Sinatra sang. Seeing the Cubs play live at Wrigley Stadium and watching Ryne Sandberg as a young player… Dinner at an upscale restaurant on the Gold Coast in Chicago, and having just enough money to pay the bill. Finger Bowls. The jauntly dressed footman pouring the coffee from two feet above the cup at the Omni Ambassador East. Telling the Hare Krishna devotee that I did not want his thick free book when he subsequently asked for a donation. Being asked by the Chicago Cubs Fans in the bleachers if we were Cubs Fans, and when we said we were, their joyful acceptance of us. Telling the surly cab driver who lectured me on what cab I was supposed to take, and his withdrawal from the confrontation. As my friend Lee Phemister told me the time he was driving in Chicago, a Police Officer directing traffic motioned for him to proceed and called him ‘Country’, and Lee wondered how he knew.

Europe was a mystery. We explored it by the skin of our teeth. Our dear friends Margo and Jeff helped us. I ordered a pastry in Paris. The woman waiting on me said Voila. I responded Voila. Then MJ came in, and it was no longer Voila. The French woman scowled.

‘I have been watching you,’ God said. ‘I like your style,’ God continued. ‘You have moxy,’ God grinned. ‘I want you to teach a class for me on the joy of living,’ God laughed.