Voting:

Some people tell me it doesn’t matter who the US selects for the next president. While it’s a choice to feign indifference, the fact is whatever the US does affects the rest of the world. So your vote matters. I’m not saying who to vote for (though I have not kept my vote a secret), I’m just saying think about the implications of your choices. Vote with your conscience. Vote with your heart. Just vote.

Heartbreak

"If you're really listening, if you're awake to the poignant beauty of the world, your heart breaks regularly. In fact, your heart is made to break; its purpose is to burst open again and again so it can hold ever-more wonders."

- Andrew Harvey, "The Return of the Mother"

Kathy's solo travels

I sent my mom off yesterday, up north to the Bay of Islands, on my favorite mode of transportation, the intercity bus service. She had a lovely Maori driver for the first leg of the trip, then switched buses for the remainder of the ride up to Paihia. I received a text from her just before 6PM yesterday saying that she'd arrived and checked into her room, a hostel that I'd chosen off the internet, run by Jan and Bob, who my mom said were about 10 years younger than her.

She roomed with a 27 year old Israeli woman. The two of them have been hanging out. Even went to the karaoke bar last night and met some locals and shared whiskey. She sounded like she was having a ball. And will be back in Auckland tomorrow night.

Jim arrives Sunday morning- another of those lovely 5:15AM arrivals. We still have a few last minute travel arrangements to make for them, but it is all finally starting to shape up.

The LAST week.

It's a sunshine-filled day here in New Zealand, as I round out my last week supervising students in the clinic. I've got mixed feelings about the year coming to a close. I love the students more than I ever would've thought. Learning about them as people, discussing optometry and life philosophy, laughing until we get "sshhhed" in the clinic are the highlights of my days. I hope I've contributed to their clinical thinking and self-confidence. I figure that's what I'm best at uncovering in people.

My mom is here and we've been busy, wandering the streets of Auckland on foot mostly, taking in Diwali festival (Indian New Years) yesterday and artists' and farmers' markets on Saturday. She's become confident in the car on the wrong side of the road, tooling around town.

With less than two weeks to my first marathon, I'm still on track. I managed a 14.5 mile jog on Sunday afternoon along the waterfront, mostly enjoyable with some dance-running intermixed with the regular old drag-yourself-along running.

I can't report any significant unfolding of events to point to the next path I'll take, but I'm feeling content with not knowing where I'll be. And I'll be happy with whatever arises.

TO THE STATES

To the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist much, obey little,
Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved,
Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever afterward resumes its liberty.

--From LEAVES OF GRASS by Walt Whitman