This was a week when life quietly stepped up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder, and, in words that felt filled with grace and compassion, whispered: “Excuse me, but I think you might sometimes forget that I don’t go on forever.”
It was a week, you see, when I heard that two people I know, one a young man, the other an older, much-loved grandpa, had died. And news came too from Mt. Rainier -- as a hiker and climber I have spent many happy days there -- that four people are missing after last week’s winter storm that in two days dropped four to six feet of snow in the high country. An air and ground search was mounted, but was called off yesterday when another storm moved in.
Such a week.
But there was also this:
A couple from the local Tibetan community called during the big snowstorm, wondering what the roads were like where I live. My friends needed to make a trip to a town about 20 miles away to pick up a visiting Tibetan lama who would be their house guest for several days, and their route would take them through my snowy neck of the woods.
I told my friends that I hadn’t even tried to drive since the big storm, but had made a trip to town that morning on cross country skis and had seen that a few folks were out and about in cars. I was a bit worried about my friends’ plans to drive on the snowy roads, and it occurred to me that I might be more experienced at navigating than they are. I offered to join them on their trip.
My friends have a vehicle with four wheel drive, so driving wasn’t too bad. We took it slow and easy, and I joked with my friends, saying that once we had the lama in the car, we’d have his good Karma with us and could drive a little less cautiously.
We picked up the lama, and I liked him immediately because he had a smile that brightened even that stormy day. My friends and I decided to take a more major highway home, so driving was in fact a breeze.
The next day my friends invited a small group of people to their home and the lama offered Tibetan Buddhist prayers for world peace, and that beings would not suffer but find contentment.
Yes, it was quite a week.
