Sitting in LAX in the odd limbo state after teaching a meditation retreat. There were nearly 150 people meditating at the Institute of Mental Physics in Joshua Tree, CA. Now they have all dispersed, gone back to their homes with tenderer hearts and minds charged up by 9 days of intensive attention. Drove to Palm Springs through the Joshua Tree National Park, an otherworldy landscape of searing heat, psychedelic piles of boulders that resemble mummies and potatoes and dinosaurs and skulls. On the flat areas there are Joshua Trees, which have a surprisingly intelligent look–like Doctor Seuss characters or bonsai–and are extremely slow growing, individual plants 300 years old.
At the moment I feel drained and tranquil, listening to noodly guitar music and watching James–who must be the cutest baby in the world, play with his family. It is a touching scene. James is about one and a half and he is wearing a striped onesie and his pacifier. He can kind of walk–holding onto the edges of the chairs. In this manner he has managed to make a tour of the waiting area, although it is a good thing there’s plate glass in the window or he would have lurched out onto the runsay. He’s been flirting with me, shyly visiting and then running away. I envy his loving parents. I have fallen in love with him! He occasionally laughs for no other reason than pure delight, and even more frequently suddenly finds himself sitting on the ground with a bump instead of walking. But he just gets up again and keeps exploring.
James just boarded his flight for Tucson in the arms of his pierced, tatted dad. The noodly music continues.
