Day 10 -- CA

Day 10 -- Van Nuys, California. Sunday was really a day of rest. Phil and Cindy and I just hung out and talked and ate. A perfect day actually. They made delicious pasta for dinner with ham, asparagus, tomatoes, spices and such. We talked about all the social ills of the country and other life altering subjects.
My stranger encounter of the day was a new one for a Midwesterner. A young Mexican boy (I presume) came up to Phil and me outside of CVS and literally pleaded – you know, hands in prayer position – for help, i.e. money. Something about being deserted by his buddies and needing bus fare. What was new was he held his driver’s license out in front of him while he pleaded, I guess to show he was legal. In any event, hard hearted Jim declined to help (that’s twice this trip) and we drove off. Now I could spin off into the underlying social and cultural implications of this encounter, but why?
I did have a couple of minor anxiety attacks which does not happen very frequently these days. I have had panic attacks for so long that I can usually manage them to the point (a) those around me have no idea it’s happening and (b) I can talk myself through it so it passes quickly. Plus I always have Atavin with me and that will clam most of them. I could go on at length describing what it’s like for me to live with panic disorder, but it’s not that interesting in a journal about a journey. Yes, I know it’s part of the "journey of life" (ugh!!) but let’s leave that for another time.
Let’s try this journey. Take your mind to the deepest darkest jungle of Africa. It’s over 100F and the sun is beating down relentlessly on the tops of the trees. Steam is rising from the jungle floor. Are you picturing it? There is a small watering hole in a little clearing in the trees. The sun is beating down . . . Nothing is moving . . . Everything is perfectly still . . . In the middle of the watering hole two hippos are cooling themselves in the water with only their heads above the surface. Everything is perfectly still. Nothing has moved in eons. There is a little dead bird hanging from the ear of one of the hippos. That’s how still it is. Slowly one hippo turns to the other and say "You know Fred, I just can’t get it through my head that it’s Thursday."

More to come.