Thought Distillery

Almost a month ago now, I had the honor of making a short weekend trip to Bloomington Indiana to partake in my friend Sandy’s wedding. Awesomely, my Mom and brother met me as I flew in late friday night to Indianapolis where we stayed before driving to Bloomington for the rest of the weekend. Saturday morning was something like a controlled chaos as I got in touch with Sandy and offered my family’s assistance on some last minute wedding preparations. Sandy had notified me month’s ago that she would have a speaking part for me in the ceremony. I had pretty much forgotten about it, and then about 30 minutes before the gig was set to start was told that I was to read a piece from “The Prophet” by Kahlil Gibran. The piece was supposedly emailed to her, but she couldn’t find it so I quickly found the it online and printed out a couple of potential chapters. Luckily I printed out the chapter on love which I confirmed 5 minutes before showtime I was to read the end of:

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

Of course I managed to botch the very last line and read lisp instead of lips. Oh well - despite my efforts the ceremony proceeded beautifully and Sandy and Ben were at last officially wed. The reception afterwards was fantastic with exquisite Italian dishes prepared by Sandy’s brother. It was a treat to see and talk to faces I hadn’t seen for over three years. Thank you, Sandy, for including me in your celebration. It was wonderful!

On Sunday we started the hot day off at Michael’s Uptown Cafe with some baked French toast drowning in maple syrup. The intense sugar rush powered a stroll around town where I picked up a bag of yummy nostalgia from the Bloomingon Bagel Company. Continuing our walk through Indiana University campus, I led my family into the Memorial Union and found what appeared to be a little used stair case. Up we climbed and with each of the 9 stories the temperature must have increased by 2 degrees fahrenheit. I found a men’s room on floor 7 and since this was probably the highest men’s room on campus, I fealt compelled to check it out. To my delight, there was a window with arguably the best view of campus. I loved the irony and vowed to return with my camera. Click through to check it out:

The other highlight of the weekend was visiting the Sahara Mart in order to stock up on dark chocolate covered raisins and dive into their 20-some barrels of olives. I hadn’t been to bloomington in over 2 years and the store has nearly tripled in size. I was quite blown away by all the new products including a great selection of micro-brews. Imagine my excitement as I spied the very micro-brew that I had combed all of Corvallis last year looking for in vain. Low and behold, the coveted Gonzo Imperial Porter by Flying Dog Brewery was sitting right before me in all of its Ralph Steadman illustrated glory! I greedily snatched up a 4-pack and slipped it into my basket with a grin on my face. Then it hit me: I was in Indiana and the day was Sunday. While it would have been perfectly acceptable to go into a pub and sip on a brew to escape the scorching sun, it still remains illegal to sell alcohol in any market on a Sunday. I gingerly placed the porter back on the shelf, and resigned to conjuring up schemes of remotely enlisting my Bloomington friends to snatch the spoils and somehow send it safely across the country into my greedy clutches. At least I had my bagles, olives and raisins to keep me sane during my flight back to Oregon. All in all, it was an incredible weekend!