turq, I often encounter devoted and long term TMers who even currently enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren. As regards living for enlightenment, many of the sidhas I know are living for the sake of living itself, the richness of it, just riding those waves of life. Yes, they engage in a particular activity to develop themselves more, but isn't that part of being human? For example, don't you yourself engage in activities to develop as a writer? Anyway, you sound angry in your last paragraph. Were you? If yes, why?
________________________________ From: turquoiseb <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, May 25, 2013 4:59 AM Subject: [FairfieldLife] Free Man In Paris, v3.01 I was having dinner with a friend from work last night in a small restaurant on the Ile St. Louis, and it turned into an interesting opportunity to teach, and to learn. My friend is someone I work with -- another American ex-pat, a former jazz pianist turned tech writer, originally from San Francisco but living and working here in Europe for the last dozen years, so we have a lot in common and lots to talk about. But we wound up talking about none of those things because two people came in and sat at the small table next to us. They were an older woman (but younger than either of us) and a young girl (who we learned was 12). The girl heard us talking in English and started a conversation, and I'm glad she did. It turns out she is from Atlanta, brought here by her grandmother for her first trip to Europe. The grandmother is doing this because the young girl is an aspiring artist, and she wanted her granddaughter to have the experience of seeing this place and its art close up, in person. And they both turned out to be charming. Both were so open to suggestions as to what to see and where to go while in Paris, and my friend and I both benefited from hearing them talk about the things they'd seen so far. It was like being able to experience them for the first time ourselves -- all the excitement, all the wonder. It was a charming evening, and I hope that we were able to steer both of them to some sights and experiences they will enjoy and cherish, and that will inspire them as they inspired us. My biggest "take away" from the evening, however, was seeing the joy in the young girl's eyes, and in her grandmother's at having been able to help put it there, and looking forward to being able to do the same thing some day for Maya. Fuck enlightenment, or realization, or any of the things that people here seem to "live for." If there is anything that'll inspire me to keep on keepin' on for another few years, it's the idea of being able to show Paris and other cool places to Maya for the first time...
