Sip Slow

A message appeared on my phone yesterday afternoon from my friend Danny Paschall whom I met working at Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp in 1991. I was delighted to see his name on my phone, but when I called him back, his voice was somber. He said he wished he was calling with good news, but he was calling because our beloved friend Ron Eckert had died of a sudden heart attack Sunday evening when he was going for a run. While I have not seen Ron in a number of years, we still texted and emailed every so often. This is a text I got in the spring of 2024 that is especially poignant in this moment: 

Every so often I enjoy a late afternoon latte on a chilly MN afternoon. The added dose of espresso provides good closure to any given day with some complimentary energy towards the evening ahead.   This week, while ordering a latte at one of my local favorite gathering spots, I uncharacteristically added another “shot” to my normal drink order.  After hearing my order, a barista, behind the counter noted, “would you rather have a quad shot?  That’s 4 shots as they come in two’s!”  I paused for a moment and said, “perhaps 4 shots may be a tad much for today.”  No sooner had I spoken the other young barista Thomas, who had just finished my beverage handed me a well-crafted 4 shot latte and said, Ron…“ just Sip Slow!”

Sip Slow…brilliant Thomas!  Sip slow and enjoy the beverage.  Sip slow in a world that has always been running at a quadruple shot pace. 

Emily, as you enter this week preparing yourself to shape young minds with creativity and zest, it will be my hope that you have plenty of opportunities to  sip slow as you help loosen the grip of college kids drive to present and promote rather than find their unique voice.  Sip slow as you capture moments of wonder while running the soggy paths and street of Seattle.  Sip slow while doing the mundane and ordinary things of life while being more present to perhaps some divine interruptions all around you.  Sip slow while reading alongside Jason to close out the night.  Sip slow as you connect with one of your many friends from a wide and growing community.  Sip Slow…. as you shape this quadruple shot world and the children it holds with a pace that is all your own.

rev ron:)

Cheers to Emily, our Dancer in the Dark, while I sip slow at Base Camp Coffee in Minnetonka, MN this a.m.

I've laughed a lot looking at old pictures (from when we worked at camp from 1992 & 1993 and from when he sang at our wedding in 1996) and have also been pretty teary remembering what a wonderful human he was and how much joy he brought everywhere he went.

a blessing for when you’ve lost someone far too soon

God, this. This is impossible.

This grief is too much to bear.

If there was a tight order
to the world that you made,
it’s come unspooled
and no one will wind it up again.

God, I feel it coming,
that ache for the stories that will never be told.
And an anger rising
when i remember
what never should have been.

Worst of all – God, could anything be worse? –
it is so beautiful
the way this grief is a language of love.

I am lovesick with this much sorrow.
Teach me to speak this new mother tongue.
Show me how to memorize
what I can never forget
what they gave and what is gone,
and what we were owed
by a world robbed of their presence.

Hold me by the edges
for I am coming apart.
And nothing but love
will find me.

-Kate Bowler