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<\/a>(Sassan Filsoof)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
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Last night we arrived at mom\u2019s in Tujunga in Los Angeles, which for all practical purposes means we are home.<\/p>\n
This morning after our Empty Moon Zen<\/a> sitting we\u2019ll return the rental car.<\/p>\n It was a lovely ride down from Seattle following a five day Zen sesshin (intensive Zen meditation retreat). We started the drive on Sunday afternoon, and so all in all, five days. It was largely a driving trip. Although we did stop to poke around here and there. Really like Astoria, where we spent our first night on the trip.<\/p>\n The day between Astoria and Coos Bay was our forty-first wedding anniversary. I feel grateful for those years, and being able to grow both older and a bit deeper with someone. We know each other through thick and thin. And we\u2019ve experienced all those different shades of love. Now we\u2019re turning into old together. I am so lucky. So lucky\u2026<\/p>\n Because of time constraints and deciding it would be wise to skirt the Bay Area (too many friends, too many opportunities to turn a five day trip into a month long pilgrimage), we turned to Interstate 5 from Coos Bay.<\/p>\n Probably the most dramatic and emotional part of the drive for me was the drive through Mt Shasta. I am moderately confident it\u2019s been more than fifty years since I\u2019ve driven that way. I felt mixed emotions about not checking in with the folk at Shasta Abbey about possibly seeing the campus. But didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n The weather was clear all the way, bright, and warm leaning into hot. Except as we approached the town of Weed, which is just north of the town of Shasta, the monastery being between the two of them. Just as we were coming on to Weed a micro storm blew up and it started pouring rain. The temperature dropped possibly twenty degrees. The rain continued until we passed through Shasta. Within a couple of miles it was dry and sunny.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure one could make up stories about that little event. In truth while there were major negatives in my experiences with the old roshi<\/a> there, that time was also the foundation for what would become my spiritual life. And really, what would become my life. I am only grateful\u2026<\/p>\n We returned to the coast briefly at Santa Cruz, where we spent the night. And picked up some world famous Donnelly chocolates. Once again California 1 is closed near Big Sur, so we returned to the 101, with a pause at the Steinbeck museum in Salinas. Bought a t-shirt.<\/p>\n We turned toward the coast again at San Luis Obispo, pausing in Cambria to purchase a olallieberry pie, and then again at Cayucos for brown butter cookies. (I fear I\u2019ve gained four pounds on this trip\u2026)<\/p>\n We spent the night in Morro Bay. Actually as we drove into town, I realized this moment was when I felt like we\u2019d returned home. Morro Bay is our occasional escape from the city. We spent the night at our favorite our favorite budget motel. The rock was wrapped in fog, so we didn\u2019t see it.<\/p>\n