Where I've Been

It's been a while. I've been mothering, wife-ing, working, writing. But mostly I've been living, day to day, in mid-life, wondering what's next, while trying not to miss what is.I went with Scott to Jerry's Retreat, a technology retreat a few weeks ago at the Marconi Center in Pt. Reyes on the coast. It's kind of hard to describe, a kind of big brain technology idea incubation retreat. So what was I doing there? Well, I was with my techie husband, but also, I'm at a point in my life where I'm really wrestling with my next act. I loved the retreat. I loved being in a room with smart people who debated and argued. I loved that people put aside 72 hours of their precious time to be together to talk, think, and listen.What I really got out of it was that the forms of the world are changing, and not to be afraid of these changes. I'm a writer, and a musician, and how I put these aspects out into the world in the future may be different from what I've done previously.That's more than enough, but I also got a few other things: some new friendships with really cool people, the chance to eat the best oysters I've ever had at Tomales Bay Oyster Company, (really fresh raw oysters washed down with a minerally sauvignon blanc is actually heaven on earth), in the company of interesting folks including Tom Gruber, the man who developed Siri, and, this poem, by Wendell Berry, read to us by Jerry Michalski, who led the retreat:The Real WorkIt may be that when we no longer know what to dowe have come our real work,and that when we no longer know which way to gowe have come to our real journey.The mind that is not baffled is not employed.The impeded stream is the one that sings