Hello all -- the day after the blue moon, I once again return to this forum to say hello and respond to a very sad accident today -- Richard Bach, author of
Jonathan Livingston Seagull and many other books, has been in a plane crash and is in serious condition. I remember being assigned JLS in British Literature (?!) class in high school and loving it, just like a lot of people do. But I didn't think about it again until my dad met Richard Bach at an airport terminal in small town. Sure they would cross paths again, my dad did something he rarely did -- bought a hardback edition of
JLS (he wasn't a big reader) and the next time they saw each other, Mr. Bach signed it for him with a doodle of flowers, planes, and trees. The inscription reads,
Happy Flying Always, Don! It is one of my most prized possessions. I don't cling to many material possessions, but this book would be one that would truly be a great loss to me if something happened to it. My dad, like Richard Bach, loved to fly and would have been lost without the wondrous freedom it gave him. I am sending many prayers for this kind man's quick recovery.
Sorry to be so out of pocket online in recent months. I've been working on revising a novel which is turning out to be a wonderful experience in terms of learning and improving my levels of patience. Ha! on the patience part, but alas, I have been taking time to do something right, a rarity for me. In doing this in a very different way than I have approached most things in my life, I've embarked on a great source of (wait for it) self-discovery (damn, do I hate that word). As
The Art of War instructs, there are times when one rushes into battle and times when one retreats from the world to gather forces. When consumed by the business of presenting the face to meet the faces, one can lose track of the silence we often need to go forward again. As always, thanks for reading and happy Labor Day weekend to all!
