Decided that if i'm going to call myself a writer, I should perhaps occasionally write. Never got into the journal thing, for various reasons. I had a journal but I left it on a plane in Reno. Called Delta and they said I could get it back if I called Lost and Found. I did and was supposed to pick it up before my flight home. I forgot, eventually remembered, but I guess I've settled into liking the idea of the woman at the desk reading it on her break, maybe finding something she likes and passing it on to her uncle in publishing... All of that to say that if you're ever at the airport in Reno with time to spare, ask to read my journal. It might be awkward but you can tell them I said it's okay. Regardless, this is the closest I've been to any of that in a while...

4/21/06 - Found and Lost

Went to a funeral last night. I knew her as Mrs. Maxwell. Others called her Barbara. She was a wonderful woman with so many names, a mother, a sister, a wife, a child, a teacher, an actress, an explorer. She was undeniably unique, meant so much to so many.

We should esteem our mothers and teachers as rock stars. We should make much of the humble. That stuff was so clear to me yesterday.

The whole night was a beautiful history lesson. Ended up at dinner with old friends. (sidenote: i think i just used "old friends" for the first time) It's wild how so much changes but so much stays the same. And wild the way ten years can fall away in a moment. There's more to that, but those thoughts will rest in a song for now. (Yup, I sorta wrote a song tonight...)

Bought a book this morning, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. Mr. Jon Foreman recommended it, and since Jon turned me on to Blue Like Jazz, I trust his judgement. The book was also an excuse to get coffee, as coffee is a good excuse to spend time with old friends. I don't know a lot about old friends but this morning tells me that it's strange stuff when they head back to new homes, when Present informs Past that it has stayed up past it's bedtime.

Watching Lost right now, with Mikey. He hasn't seen it so I am like a proud father, bringing him up to speed, answering lots of questions. Lost is the only show I watch. My friends talk a lot about 24, and don't get me wrong, I love that there's a show based on a Switchfoot song, but I haven't seen it. And Lost is great on dvd because there are no commercials and you can watch it when you want to. I am very smart.

"Kids are like dogs. You knock them around enough, they'll think they did something to deserve it." Sawyer just said this. Sawyer usually channels Kid Rock, but he has his moments. Perhaps we all do.

The thing that Lost screams to me is that humans get so stuck in moments. We are haunted by our pasts. We break and don't fix easy. It's the stuff of To Write Love on Her Arms. Depression, addiction and cutting are so often born from pain. We take on false names, broken identities. We need new ones. (sidenote: That's a borrowed idea, taken from Eldredge and Miller, though they likely borrowed it from good men before them. Actually, i think it goes back to Jesus.)

My friend said something cool to me last night, this after whatever last goodbye had come to feel so final; "i didn't know I was lost, but thank you for finding me."

P.S. (or one last sidenote:) Children and dogs are incredible. There is something about innocence, and the ability to listen. Powerful stuff.

One more thing. If you're thinking "the friend" may have been a female, and perhaps of some romantic interest to me, that is impossible. I am very much committed to Evangeline Lilly : )