Sunday 10/13/24

October 13, 2024

On Sundays I reflect.

I didn’t drink alcohol this week, but I thought about having a beer one night. I’m glad I didn’t.

For the first week in months I don’t have to get ready for the Vail market today.

I’ve been seeing myself from the past in some of my friends as they navigate addictions. I told Michelle during our chat last night how grateful and relieved I am to be here now.

It’s the end of Yom Kippur, the Jewish day for atonement. I spent 24 hours meditating on who I have wronged and forgiving those who have wronged me.

Growing up in the temple as the son of the Rabbi was a unique experience. High Holidays are challenging for me, maybe in a way that’s not the same for everyone else.

Some of the people who watched me grow up at the temple are now here in the mountains and seeing me as an adult. They always say I look just like my dad. I do. It was hard to navigate the adults of the congregation as a kid, but the ones I still see today were always so kind and understanding of how hard it was for me. It’s comforting to see them at a time that is especially difficult.

I show up late. I sit in the back corner. I try to avoid eye contact and focus on my own reflections.

As a kid I had to be at least an hour early and sit in the front row. It was always a fight with my mother about what outfit I had to wear.

Today I dressed casually.

And I get to watch Michelle and Seth’s kids grow up the way Michelle’s mom and others watched me grow up. It’s a privilege to be in the kids lives and to hear them squeal “Ben” when they see me, hugging me and sitting on me and basically rendering me unable to move as they tell me about school and life.

Michelle’s album is being released today so I want to wish her a congratulations here!

“Reckoner, You can’t take it with you, Dancing for your pleasure” the Radiohead song remixed by Maribou State and the other version by Chambord play on repeat.

I got to catch up with Michelle over dinner as we broke our fast last night. It’s rare we get to talk these days. There aren’t many people still in my life that knew me in the 90’s.

It was so nice for me to have that time despite the interrupting congregants who wanted to thank her for her beautiful singing. We paused and resumed half a dozen times but it always just picks back up. I remember sharing my dad’s time with every single congregant as a kid.

I had to take one meeting yesterday. We locked in a commission to decorate nine shelves in a recently renovated Aarowhead home. I made a site visit and took a deposit for a very exciting project I’ll be creating with Red Cliff Stan.

The person commissioning the work is an architect which to me makes my sketch even funnier. I’ve included it as the header photo today for this blog.

Almost all of the pipes I made last week sold, so I’ve been making more of them. It’s been fun, and I’ve gotten on the torch almost every day. Driving has been slow which has allowed me more time to be creative.

I’m going down a Reckoner rabbit hole now. It’s got to be one of my all time favorite songs. Check out the podcast Dissect Season 11 on the album In Rainbows.

So enjoy your Sunday and thanks for tuning in.

“Because we separate, like ripples on a blank shore”