And more than a quarter of a century later...

Hello OBC community,

I was a lay trainee in residence at Shasta for a few weeks in both 1975 and 1976. I also spent some time as a layman at the Chico and Eugene Priories at about that time. The last contact I had with OBC or anyone even remotely connected was in December of 1984 when I made a brief visit to Shasta while passing on the way to a job interview. While I never got in contact, my mind visited often. Imagine stumbling on this website and all the news. So many familiar names.

When I left the Abbey in 1976, I was on my way to earn money to return and see about being ordained. An avalanche of circumstances seemed to intervene and I worked my way through a second education, becoming a certified secondary school teacher in Montana in 1984. By that time, at age 39, I had held more than 100 different job titles and did not like the experience of teaching either. That snowy Christmas Eve, at a payphone off the Interstate in Vail, Colorado, my quick stop to contact my on-again/off-again lady turned into a life-changer when her answering machine announced that she and her husband were out for the evening.

I called off the teaching interviews, told the night law school that I was out also and in Vail at 9pm became a ski bum of sorts, working since then as what is called a hotel night auditor at more than 50 front desks from the Keys to Glacier Park and from Stowe to Telluride. The first 10 years went by as if a dream. Beautiful places and enjoyable work.

I plan on working about 5 more years. Seeing the posts of the community, their goings and comings, their views, with a 28-year long perspective... My wondering about the ones I knew is fulfilled with very seasoned answers and I look at their travels - or lack thereof - and their current expressed viewpoints as indisputable lessons about training tacks. Nice to see a place where it isn't weird to openly discuss such topics as are found here. Nice to see the OBC Connect community uniformly wrestling with their consciences seemingly as second nature.

Gassho.

Dan Staples

Hi Dan, and welcome! It's good to have you here. Thank you for telling us about yourself -- very informative first post.

Yes, we will talk about anything here, everything is fair game for questioning and doubt! Please join in if you're inclined.

Best,
Lise

p.s. who are those people in the picture?

Hi Dan,

Ditto the welcome.

danstaples wrote:

Seeing the posts of the community, their goings and comings, their views, with a 28-year long perspective... My wondering about the ones I knew is fulfilled with very seasoned answers and I look at their travels - or lack thereof - and their current expressed viewpoints as indisputable lessons about training tacks. Nice to see a place where it isn't weird to openly discuss such topics as are found here. Nice to see the OBC Connect community uniformly wrestling with their consciences seemingly as second nature.

Hello Dan,

Welcome to OBC Connect. Did we meet at Shasta Abbey? - it was a long time ago. You are quite right that there is much "wrestling with conscience" here. I'm glad you see it as such and not (as some have said) just a lot of complaining :-)