Ack! I’ve been neglecting all of you again!

We left on another trip–this time to Salt Lake City to baptize my best friend’s son and to attend Sunstone, a Mormon liberal-intellectual conference, where Jana and I presented. I hope to process both that and our Paris trip out loud on this blog, but the problem with vacations is that life continues to march on in one’s absence, so coming off a break is not unlike jumping sideways onto a swiftly moving conveyer belt.

Quick note:

I dreamt last night (less than an hour ago) that I was sitting at a table with two people. I’m not sure who was sitting across from me, but in between us was the cheerful Dalai Lama. He had my left hand in his right, and was holding the hand of the anonymous person in his left. We gripped hands and smiled at each other until I became aware of the compassion rolling like deep ocean waves from him, and I broke down and began crying.

When I dream, I’m usually half-aware that I am in dream-land, but my crying took me completely by surprise and jolted me into wakefulness. An hour later, and I’m still lingering on the peace and compassion I felt, hoping that the aftertaste lasts throughout the day, wondering what I can do to feed again on it.