Then… And… Now

MON., JUNE 14, 1999, 6:32 AM
HAMA’S CAB’A, HONOLULU

Yes, o son, you know that this is where you should be… and what you should be doing… as this “work week” commences. There is still much that could be done, seen, and experienced, but for you, now, at this time in your life, hearing from Me is of the most importance. To start any day with a Teaching is “da best.”

You know, with the state of your memory, that it would have been well to keep a little journal, of what you did and who you saw, but it is also a time in life when you don’t follow through with all of your ideas, even resolves. These Teachings will be of some help in recalling, for Lenore, the details of your “journey.”

This was the Luau weekend, for you, as a part of the Class of ’54. It was a recollection of young teens, but now, as you see them, into their early 60’s. It was a simpler time, here in Hawaii, a time after a war but not yet into the commercial struggle of your nation and of this small island state. You’ve had lots of remembrances of “how things were,” amid the realization that lives have moved on from those days of youth. There is a bumping together of present life and the remembrances of younger lives, in a different time.

Then… you were beginning a career, and being here was a factor in changing it from coaching to classroom teachings. It was fine career, but only commenced here, with completion in quite a different… and, for you, a better… place. Now… you see “oldish” faces and figures on those you taught in those “young” years.

You were envious of fellow old-time teacher Frank, who got to tell his life story and help those present recall his classes. You were not willing to take time from him, but that did deprive those present of the chance to hear your unique version of “The Cremation…” It was a humble gesture, and I appreciated that, but… you could have added to their “literary experience” in an unexpected fashion.

The morning at Central Union brought recollections of times past in that wonderful sanctuary, countered, in a way, by the experience of seeing no one you knew… from then. The place is a part of your spiritual journey, but now you are “one who was” while Central Union has a new congregation. You went back… and no one was “there.” And so it is.

The afternoon, yesterday, brought the pleasure of a dip in the warm Pacific, and more conversation with some of those who stayed for “the last event.” It was fun to give Matthew a chance to interact with some of these “elders” who had some “growing up” with you, though not as much as he had. He is gregarious, and it was good that he was included in at least some of this celebration and remembrance.

You now have a week ahead, almost, with it not being probable that you’ll do all that you could do. It will be ( 7:18 / 7:24 ) in some ways a balancing of experiences that “have been” with the reality of your actual life now, lived in quite a different place. So just try (but don’t try) to appreciate what was… or could have been… with what now is your life.

It is your hope that you get a chance to offer the remembrances of your Dad… and your Mother, to some extent. Theirs were long lives, lived well and fully, except at their “ends.” As you now share with some others – son Peter had a short, incomplete life, son Michael had a good, productive, happy life, but was “cut down” in early middle age… yet didn’t have to live out the weaknesses and losses that were the “burdens” of your parents.