In 4th grade, I went to my first Major League Baseball game at the Metrodome (Twins v. Orioles).
At 16, I worked on a roof for the first time.
When I was 21, I stood in the grass and daisies in the sanctuary ruins of an 8th century monastery.
At 23, I swam with (and kissed) stingrays.
At 26, I held my best friend's 4 day old baby.
At Emory, I have heard Jesse Jackson, Margaret Atwood, and Elaine Pagels speak in the auditorium (i.e. sanctuary) at Glenn Memorial UMC.
I also heard Jimmy Carter (thrice) answer questions from Emory students ranging from the inane (he actually still is a peanut farmer, which is why he doesn't miss it) to the silly (his favorite movie is Casablanca) to the seriously political (he really is not thrilled with this administration, and he has helped broker peace in countries I haven't heard of).
And I've played a lot of ultimate frisbee on the Quad (as evidenced somewhat in the picture below of us all soaked after the really rainy day a few weeks ago). We've had loads of passersby join in the game, whether intentionally or incidentally. Once a year or two ago, a Tibetan monk caught (or picked up) the frisbee and tossed it back to us. That was pretty cool.
But today, the Tibetan monks (there's a Tibetan program at Emory) were walking by -- several of them. One of us asked if they wanted to play. They looked at each other, grinned, secured their deep red robes, and took the field.
We played frisbee with three Tibetan monks.
It was surreal. It was serene. It was crazy.
It was pretty amazing.
We didn't worry about who was on what team. We just tossed the frisbee to a monk and followed his lead. Early on, I had said to one of the monks that I was going to guard him if that was okay. I looked around and none of the other monks were being "guarded," but I had committed. So I stayed near this one monk. And he asked me questions about the game (because obviously I am an expert).
They seemed so glad to be included in our funny little Friday tradition.
And we were all so glad they were willing to run (maybe shuffle) around the warm messy quad in full monk garb.
It was good. Maybe (okay, certainly) not quite as good as cuddling that 4 day old baby whom I love dearly. But really good.
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amazing. i wish i had been there. did the monks play prayerfully?
ReplyDeletewhile you were throwing hammers with monks, i was clearing trash from an illegal hillside dump with plain-dress brethren.
the world is a big, big place.
How I wish I could have been witness to that game of frisbee, with camera in hand. Those are the moments my photojournalism background comes calling me back.
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