yosemite thoughts

Wel, we are on the eastern side of the parkin Lee Vining.........funny where you find we find WiFi on this trip and how lucky we are to have the blog to journal our trip.We spent our first real niht camping last evening: with the awning out, chairs set up, cards delt on the table for a round of Rummy 5000. we had a great talk last night about the Yellowstone fire and how after it was all said and done, there were so many positives that came out of that tragedy. and how nature works is such extreme and beautiful ways..i know there were species of flowers that only bloom after a fire(please don't ask me what they are ).
We were also reading about the Phoenix a few nights ago at Nepenthe( agreat place for a bite in Big Sur) and how it burns up with fire and gets reborn, stronger , from its own ashes..
I think that Yellowstone is a good metaphor for Page and i and this hard journey we are on. We think of Cash as our Phoenix. It's amazing what tragedy can bring to you and how you do survive. I trust that we will need a lot of help to get stronger when we get back but even the littlest bit of clarity right now is so welcome. Cash is captain of the Ski Team!

This is a letter that a Client/friend sent to me today. I am constantly amazed at how kind people are .
Dear Steve and Anita, Rachel finished her work on earth, and left the stage in a manner that leaves those of us left behind with a cry of agony in our hearts, as the fragile thread of our faith is dealt with so violently. Is anyone strong enough to stay conscious through such teaching as you are receiving? Probably very few. And even they would only have a whisper of equanimity and peace amidst the screaming trumpets of their rage, grief, horror and desolation. I can't assuage your pain with any words, nor should I. For your pain is Rachel's legacy to you. Not that she or I would inflict such pain by choice, but there it is. And it must burn its purifying way to completion. For something in you dies when you bear the unbearable, and it is only in that dark night of the soul that you are prepared to see as God sees, and to love as God loves. Now is the time to let your grief find expression. No false strength. Now is the time to sit quietly and speak to Rachel, and thank her for being with you these few years, and encourage her to go on with whatever her work is, knowing that you will grow in compassion and wisdom from this experience.
In my heart, I know that you and she will meet again and again, and recognize the many ways in which you have known each other. And when you meet you will know, in a flash, what now it is not given to you to know: Why this had to be the way it was. Our rational minds can never understand what has happened, but our hearts– if we can keep them open to God – will find their own intuitive way. Rachel came through you to do her work on earth, which includes her manner of death. Now her soul is free, and the love that you can share with her is invulnerable to the winds of changing time and space. In that deep love, include me. In love, Ram Dass

may in your day you find and give kindness to someone unexpecting and play a few hands of cards,
xoxox, cash's mommy