Today, I went to disc golfing with a friend at the Berkeley Aquatic Park. It was a very bad day. The very first thing I did was throw my best driver (A "Lightning Discs" #1 driver) into the water. It was only a few feet in, so I slipped off my shoes and socks and waded in to get it. Ugh, the water and rocks seemed kind of gross, and my feet felt a little sting-y after getting out.

Then we continued to play (must more carefully, since I'd rather not throw my favorite discs into the water). The entire course is lined by water on one side, and even though the wind was blowing toward the land, a mis-throw can end up as a lost disc. So a few holes later, I started the hole by throwing the #1 Helix into the water, about 50 feet in. It was long gone. Then we ran into a woman walking on the path who had just lost her house keys, and we met a really interesting Mexican man wearing a bicycle helmet and selling discs that he'd found (they seemed like they were pretty water-worn, or at least all of the labels had worn off) for $2 a piece. I bought three, to remember the occasion if nothing else. He walked on ahead, and when he was at a safe distance, I threw the disc at him by accident. He laughed, and pointed to his helmet.

Then we ran into a couple guys going the other direction, one of whom was wearing a fedora-type hat and a Pat Tillman football jersey with some flag patches on it.

Later, when we got back to the car, we found it unlocked (we had locked it), and my book bag was missing, including the red "comma" pin I'd gotten from a UCC woman while working at the GTU library, my palm pilot (last synch'ed a few weeks ago, so now i've lost several pages of reflections about my clinical pastoral chaplaincy experience, along with a handful of songs that I wanted to work into the next CD/.mp3 mix), my brand new prescription glasses, a book called "the unitarians and the universalists", my custom ear plugs (since I no longer own them, I should call them "some custom ear plugs that only fit my ears).

So that's a bummer. But I'm still learning. Today I'm learning what its like to lose something, and all of the stress and anxiety associated with being afraid of losing something "important". Still a bit of a bummer, since I have to replace a few of those things, and that will cost time and money. I hope your day is going better than mine.

A little bit of good news is that it was my friend's first time in about a decade and she played wonderfully. And we got to discuss the idea of floating sustainable communities, gardening, and just catch up in general.


lyrics: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found."

colors: water-washed white.

mood: still catching up with my feelings about today and about the last three intense weeks at Napa.

chant/prayer/mantra: may i have the wisdom to understand the nuances and ambiguities in many challenging life situations, the strength and energy to endure even when its being tapped off, and the serenity to accept that life is composed of (among other things) love, living, and loss.


pax hominibus,
agape to all,
joel

Labels: Disc golf