Travels with Charley

Okay, not travels with Charley (Steinbeck) or with a donkey (Robert Louis Stevenson) or anyone at all. But later in the week I will hit the road for a short trip to Holy Hill and environs. I have a meeting with Jude for lunch and to discuss the work I am doing on the history booklet. Afterward I will visit Hilda Weber, a woman who worked for us when I was prior at the Hill. She and her husband live in nearby Hartford, and she has been in touch from time to time. Recently she emailed me to tell me she has been diagnosed with incipient dementia and would like to see me. She is a remarkably sweet woman who has dealt with a lot of suffering in her family. It will be good to see her.

The illustration is of The Fool, a card from a modern tarot deck. (Tarot cards are the kind fortune tellers use. Regular card decks developed out of the larger tarot decks.) The Fool, in traditional tarot decks, is depicted starting out on a journey, usually accompanied by a dog (as was Steinbeck in his book), optimistically looking up and often taking a step out over an empty space. The card does not represent a foolish person so much as an innocent one, and the step out over the space does not necessarily mean the person is heading for disaster. It just means he is stepping out into the unknown.

I identify with The Fool for a number of reasons, not least being that the last few years, leaving the monastery and then moving to Wisconsin, have felt like I am stepping out into the unknown. But, as I have often told people, whenever I have taken a step forward, something (Someone's hand) rises to hold me up.

I hope Hilda finds that Someone supporting her as she steps out into a frightening journey at this point in her life. Indeed, may we all!