In the last week of June and the first week of July, I went back east to visit my family. As a monk of the hermitage, I get to visit my family once a year. However, due to the coronavirus, this visit was delayed. I hadn't seen my parents in a couple years; it had been more than a couple years since I'd seen my sister, as well as my brother and sister-in-law with my niece and my nephew. It was wonderful finally to see them again.
The day I flew out of California, I met up with Karen and Maureen, former co-workers; we worked together when I was a attorney. It was fun to catch up with them. They both were raised Catholic, so they understand various aspects of life at the hermitage. That day I took off from California, I also gladly got to see Susan and Aurora. We lived together at the Catholic Worker House; they're still Catholic Workers.
When I was planning the trip, it had seemed like a great idea to leave the hermitage early in the day so I could see friends I hadn't seen in years. Finally when I was on the redeye flight from San Francisco to New York and was getting almost no sleep, I began to see the consequences of that itinerary. Again on the subway from JFK to Penn Station, I kept nodding off, immediately waking up after a few seconds.
Once I got into Penn Station, I happily got a cup of Blue Bottle Coffee. I was also happy to pop into Magnolia Bakery and get a blueberry muffin. With a little sustenance, I headed over to the Amtrak ticket counter. I told the clerk I was booked on the 11:25 a.m. train to Albany. He asked me where my ticket was. I'm so used to showing up at an airport and entering my frequent flyer number that I told him I didn't have a ticket.
He asked me if I had it on my phone. I pulled out the flip phone I was borrowing from another monk. He noted, "Well, you won't have it on there." I admitted, "This isn't even my phone. I'm borrowing this just so I'd have a phone on this trip." He asked me, "How can you not have a phone?" I explained, "I live in an area with no cell phone signal." He asked, "Where's that?" I told him, "Big Sur, on the California coast."
He printed my ticket to Albany to see my brother and his family, and the ticket back to Manhattan. As I struggled to arrange my coffee, muffin, train tickets, backpack and rolling luggage, he wondered aloud, "How will you manage all that?" I was able to negotiate it all and navigate my way due to his merciful, kind, caring nature. Before I walked off, I thanked him for being patient with me amidst my disorganization.
