Monday Nite Meet-Up

07/16/09 - posted by jb

For those of you who missed the Monday Nite Meet-Up in Monterey, don’t feel short-changed; you will all, hopefully, make the one this Monday at the Cliff House. Val and her husband Kent, visiting from Olympia, met Shortcake and me at our local British pub for bites, pints and flights of fancy. Granted, it isn't an Irish pub, but their onion rings cover a multitude of sins. Val was following a historic pilgrimage on the trail of a grandfather who spent time in the Salinas Valley, Big Sur and Jolon areas and was to meet with a local historian the following day. You historians are a blessed lot and God knows, as do the rest of us here, that our choir is sweet with your songs and how far and deep your memories reach to touch the lives and hearts of others. To leave history is to give life everlasting; a very precious gift indeed.

A buddy contends “we are the sum total of our memories.” After meeting Val and Kent, it occurs to me that we are not only who we were but who we have become and are becoming. The pleasure of meeting “neighbors” here, face-to-face, is a rare and wonderful experience and recalls the words of Will Rogers: Strangers are just friends I haven’t met yet.” I hope we all get a chance to meet one another at some point in time. You are all very special.

Cheers,
jb

PS: Val, I hope you will report on your historic adventure when you return.