I learned something new.
If I want to explore all the museums in Balboa Park for free, I can order a pass.
I did.
Right before I left for deployment.
It takes 6 weeks to process, and will be waiting for me when I come home.
I do not actively seek out military perks, but this was a BIG win!
I love those friends you make along the way while stationed somewhere.
Maggie and I talk, sometimes joke about life at 2nd RadBn, as she was the former SUPPO (Supply Officer) while I was the chaplain.
I may have mentioned that when I get back from deployment, I am going to start pickling my own pickles.
She already was, when we were on the phone.
And she wanted me to try hers: pickles, peppers, and home-made peach jam.
Unapologetic that most of what she sent did not last before I left for deployment.
My brother asked me a question about a year ago, and I laid out the directions, which was NOT what he asked of me.
Then he told me about a sketch on SNL called, “The Californians,” and realized… I DO THAT NOW!
Well, I found where they live. Point Loma, California!
Last year, I was passed over for promotion.
Only
28% were selected in zone (10 LTs), while the rest were above zone (26).
My
stress levels have been quite high, as I waited once again, for a group of Line Officers to decide my future in the Navy.
I walked into the area-wide training, and during the training, a chaplain sent me a congratulatory message. I did not realize the results had come out.
I remember all the emotions I felt when I was passed over the first time. This time around, I was somewhere between stunned, and feeling vindicated.
I was glad that my work was seen as “worthy enough” for promotion.
But the lesson here is, that being picked up for promotion is like roulette.
Just glad I landed on the right spot this year.
Looking forward to September 1, 2022.
I don’t remember when I fell in love with art.
But at some point, I recognized the power of the image, and what it could invoke within me.
Every time I go the city (NYC, there is no other), I try to go to either the MoMa or Met. This time, I went to both.
Once again, I go to spend time with one of my favorite painters, Monet.
I sat and looked at the three paneled water lilies, and allowed the calmness of the water, and the slight breeze that moved the lilies ever so slightly that I saw in the painting into my heart.
The met / Monet / The Manneporte
COVID has been hard. And though I think I have had a much easier time of it than others,
I could not, and still cannot escape the anxiety it created, and continues to impact.
I needed to see Monet, and Van Gogh.
MoMa / Van Gogh / The Starry Night
Like old friends, I knew they would lift my spirit, and bring me some much needed peace.
Due to “the ‘Rona,” I have not left San Diego since March of 2020, except for a mini-deployment over the summer.
As a part of my pre-deployment leave, I made my pilgrimage to New York.
I got to go to Yankee Stadium and watch the Yanks with a come from behind win!
And of course, I watched the game from my beloved bleachers. Because the Bleacher Creatures are my brand of crazy excitement.
June 27th
I met Daniel and Jen Dawson on my second day in Okinawa, at an area-wide religious ministries social event. That night, Jen told me about her desire to convert to Judaism.
A year later, she, and eight others completed their journey to become Jews.
During that time, Daniel would attend services with Jen - - and I KNEW - - that one day, he would walk his own path to Judaism.
I watched him during services, falling in love with the beauty of the services, the prayer, the theology, the culture, and the people. It was that day, while still in Okinawa, I chose his Hebrew name.
I had hoped that I would be in his orbit when he took his first steps as a Jew.
More than a year of study, Daniel leaving the Navy for a second time, the two of them leaving San Diego, I presided over Daniel’s conversion.
Three weeks before his conversion, I told him the story of why and when I chose his name, Akivah. I also shared that on the first day we studied together at the dining room table, and saw the Talmudic mind that wrestled with the texts, and asked brilliant questions, that like his namesake, he is already on a path to become my colleague.
Oh the places I have been, and continue to go, the people I meet, the family I create, and the journeys of so many that are intertwined forever.
