Back in Berkeley

…and exhausted. I woke up way earlier than I needed to, this morning, and couldn’t go back to sleep. (I’d been thinking of going on a sunrise hike, but it was way foggy until after lunch.)

What I’ve done today:

• Hosted breakfast
• Packed my stuff and cleaned my room
• Went to lunch (wasn’t hosting)
• Wandered for close to two hours through the creekbed, Gina’s Orchard, and what I think of as the back way to the peace pole—it wouldn’t really take that long, but I walked slow and stopped a lot, both praying and taking pictures of October
• Said bye to the staff until next month; I have to coordinate my rota and syllabi to see when works best to go back
• Drove for two hours; first past the wineries and through Sebastopol (thank you Sean), and then in bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way through Marin
• Called "Calabash family" to tell them I was safe (they worry about my car, with reason) and to ask when I'm serving at church; laughed when I realized it'll still be October, and I already knew I wasn't scheduled
  
• Picked at dinner; I miss real food too much
• Found missing church rota, in a pile on my floor; picked it up
  
• Put my suitcase on my bed, intending to unpack it—which I will do before I crawl in
• Checked e-mail and messed around some more with Firefox

I need to organize myself for tomorrow; I have reading that I never got to, and I’m going into the city to march for peace with my bishop. That’s really why I came back today.

I’m academically behind now, but no more than usual, and it’s not insurmountable. I did the soul-work I needed to last week, and I don’t regret any of it. If anything, I ought to have walked more. Every time I opened myself, something amazing happened. God and that place are a powerful combination.

Do I still have snags? Yeah. But I understand them better now. And I know what I need to do, when they come up.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.