…thanks Vic Chesnutt for the title for this post.  This post is about Life. Yes: Life and Life Only…
I got home Wednesday afternoon last week and I am settling in….Friday morning I was making my breakfast and I heard my dogs loudly scuffling outside…I rushed out and found them attacking one of our cats:  Chico Che…I screamed and jumped in the middle of the ravenous mob and kicked them away…the cat ran but they caught him again in a ravine on our property…I was shouting for Carlos for help and I kept sobbing No! No! No! as I watched 5 of my beloved dogs become a murderous pack…Carlos appeared and was able to get the dogs away….somehow he and his brother Margarito were able to place Chico Che in a cat box and get him to the doctor.  Sweet ginger boy died that afternoon of internal injuries…So yes….Life…and yes…death too.  I am grieving for this sweet animal that was born in our closet who was always just a bit out of step from the rest…kind of like me.  I have also forgiven our dogs…this is Nature…they were only responding to their Instincts and the Gravity of the Situation….I have buried Chico Che next to our original Mexican dog Kali down near the Chapel…sweet Beloveds…I have renamed the building next to the burial site:  Casa Kali Chico Che….in loving memory of our critters who remind us of our True Nature and the Gravity that we share…

 

…..for many years I had a lot of shame framed around the fact that I went to Vietnam….I was a 19 year old boy in Oklahoma and had been court marshaled from the Navy Reserve for not attending meetings and taking certain liberties with the dress code…..I was certified for the draft and through the Grace of Existence I was magically drafted by mistake into the US Navy at the height of the Vietnam War…I was stationed at Moffett in Mountain View (35 Miles from Haight Ashbury) working in an office for a Patrol Squadron that was deployed to the Phillipines….I was in Vietnam for a total of three weeks…….stoned on some of the best pot that one can imagine…..the draft enabled me to get out of Oklahoma and that mind set and I was lucky to experience the psychedelic scene in the Haight due to my being stationed nearby…Being in and around San Francisco, I learned so much about the diversity of this planet that I was not exposed to in Oklahoma City…but at the same time….I did not have the guts to stand up against the war…I just knew that I did not want to kill another or die in battle…I have always glossed over that period of my life…only illuminating the psychedelic part…so today…on Memorial Day…I am totally out of the closet…I am not at all proud of my time in the service, however, I am no longer ashamed…I just did not know any better…I was culturally and geographicaly challenged…things have changed…I escaped Oklahoma…the World has opened up and I take refuge in an expanded Dharma…beyond War…beyond Religion…in the loving hands of Existence!

……so here I am .  I turned 65 yesterday here in San Francisco.  It was a delightful day…Tartine for Breakfast…shopping in San Francisco with my Beloved…Lunch with Richard, Sudheer and his Richard at Catogna  where we met Cecilia Chiang…saw the film "Bernie" at the Embarcadero…hung out afterwards in the Noe Valley Apartment…Dinner at Mandalay with a whole crowd…it was great…My old friend Harp was there…he and his Beloved Amy joined us (they live in Toronto) with their friend Nancy Anderman who we originally met on the Street in San Miguel…Anandi was there with her new boyfriend Paul…they met last March…both 78 and lovely…Anandi….wow…we do go back…Richard Bolingbroke was there with his friend Eric Burkett…Richard and Sudheer…..Beloved Pritama and totally beautiful Winifred Montgomery…we had fun….I had not had the Green Tea Leaf Salad in 10 years!….Later we hung out with Harp and Amy and Nancy in Nacy's apartment…….lovely day and night…Celebrating Senior Citizenship….I remember my 30th birthday celebrated way back when on Wooster in Soho……..so glad to be alive…Forever Young!  Forever Grateful!

…..I got my passport renewed today.  I looked at the expiration date:  21 May 2022.  If my book and I make it to that date I will be 74 years old…just this shy of 75.  Now that is something to live up to!  I embrace that possibility.  Every day is a gift…People come and go in one's life…destinations and locations change…rain…snow…sun….fog…it is all part of the living horizon…I love reminders like this!

…….two new events are brewing and will be seen in the next few months at the Chapel of Jimmy Ray…I am amidst some very early stages in planning….stay tuned because it should prove to be VERY interesting.  The Opening back in February of this year was a delight…so the key word is:  delight….and for all future adventures at the Chapel…just stay tuned….and Be There!  I've got my ear down to the ground…..rumblings…

…I must live in a bubble…I have been tooling around Facebook and the internet tonight reading reactions to Obama's brave proclamation that supports my marriage to Richard Schultz and I am blown away by the major stupidity that can only be described as cancerous displayed by some of these so-called Christians.   It is very troubling.  I can only shake my head and ultimately find some compassion for these folks who have a very limited and propagandized life experience. So when I see and hear this drivel, I have to turn the metaphoric mirror towards myself and go inside..I love Richard with my heart and soul…..I am a gay man…I did not choose this…it is my doorway to pass through and to embrace…so…dig it…Mr. and Mrs. Christian Right…starting living your so called Golden Rule and quit fucking with the liberty and dignity of those who have different doorways…all these doorways lead to a vast Mystery and Acceptance which is part of a Universe that dwarfs dogma…….Religion is Bondage!