“It’s going to be dry until Monday”
That’s what the forecast was as I walked out of the house. It had been three years since I last wrote about a trip and longer than that since I had been on a bike trip. My friend Mike and I are going to do a two day ride on the coast south of Carmel. I thought it would be fun to ride there on my bike,so Wednesday off I went.
One other thing. This trip had a second purpose,which is to visit the grave of my mothers parents, These two people have been shrouded in mystery and secrecy all my life. In the 35 years of my life I shared with my mother, she spoke less than 1/2 hour total about her parents. Early in our lives we learned that this subject was off limits.
4 years ago I attended a retreat in Assisi Italy run by a Catholic university.The intent of the retreat was to help healthcare practitioners introduce spiritually into healthcare practice. As I was flying over I was thinking about my moms given name,Celeste Regina Burberry. In Latin Celeste Regina translates into Queen of Heaven.
With reflection,this question emerged, How could two people, who obviously loved this little baby girl so much that the give her this name. This isn’t some “Dick or Jane” name. How did things go so far off the rails for their lives to take the tragic turns that they did? Of course in 1931 mental health treatment for a young woman married to a painter,in the middle of the depression, was as likely to happen as me walking on water.
This reflection spoke to me about the goodness in each of us and how if can get buried in our day to day living,UNLESS each of us don’t remind each other of their value and worth. Of course that isn’t the complete answer, but it does lay a foundation and increases the chances of other priorities.
As aFather Greg Boyle reminds us“Here is what we seek: a compassion that can stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than in judgement at how they carry it” Stew in that awhile. How I wish I could have shared that with my mom.
I am riding past Sunil and start a climb over Calaveras Rd., maybe a7 mile climb.
It has been sprinkling on and off,and then it turns loose. I mean gutters are overflowing. I guess some force thought I need a baptism for the first time on this road! On went the rain gear and a pedaling I went. Actually once I got over my surprise and decided there was nothing to do but keep going I had a good time. By the time I got to Milpitas I was pretty dry.
I met my friend Seiji and we had a nice lunch. Then as I was following the GPS, I realized I was going the wrong way.
It must think I have legs of Titanium! If you were to draw the route I ended up doing to get through San Jose, you would think a crack addict had been spinning donuts in his car.Round and Round.Anyway got to the hotel and Had a good nights sleep.
On we go.
By the time I got to Milpitas
I guess
Stew in that a while
In Latin Celeste Regina translates int
She grew up in a household beset with mental illness. Her mother suffered with depression which resulted in committing suicide in 1931 when my mother was maybe 8 years old, My mother was the one who found her. Her father suffered from alcoholism. He died in 1942 at age 50, when she was in high school or shortly after.
There
Pau's Travels 