In Eight Steps to Happiness Geshe-la says "'Self' and 'other' are relative terms, rather like 'this mountain' and 'that mountain ... 'This' and 'that' therefore depend upon our point of reference. This is also true of self and other. By climbing down the mountain of self, it is possible to ascend the mountain of other, and thereby cherish others as much as we presently cherish ourself."

Monday, January 17, 2011

Celebrated Richard's Birthday

Wonderful time with Richard's family.
His sister Susie arrived this afternoon from the Okanago, then his niece Maggy from the UW this evening; Dachog came last night too.
(Susie is helping 2 men in their family celebrate b-days: She 
leaves tomorrow at 4am for her flight to Baltimore via Chicago, to celebrate an even bigger birthday: Their Dad's 90th! Wow! She's meeting up with their brother John and his family, who are flying in from Florida. I'm glad some family can go party with their Dad in person.)

Susie and Dachog "catered" us with Greek food. Greek fries with feta! Spanakopita. Dolmathes. Babaganoush. Hummus. Roasted red peppers. Greek salad. Caesar salad. Rice pilaf.  Red-pepper spread. Moussaka. Falafel (or "feel awful" as Richard calls it, even though he likes it : ).

Maggy gave Richard the Apples to Apples game, so they all had great fun with that between dinner and dessert while I enjoyed them from the couch – resting. It was funny not knowing the game and overhearing shouts of “ludicrous!” followed by “Jessica Simpson,” then laughter. (Remember that Je Tsongkhapa laughed for 3 days when he realized emptiness? I am so looking forward to that, and like to think that each laugh will help get me closer.)

At my own radiation treatment (RTX* to those in the know), Linda at the front-desk and my rad techs know Richard and sent b-day wishes home with me.

* "Mags" has 2 midterms tomorrow morning. She said for her world public health / economics class (not the real name of the course, but sorta close?), she has to memorize a bunch of acronyms. Maybe that's why it popped out here.
I went to a small liberal arts college where we studied subjects like Geology and Calculus. Maggy has these interdisciplinary classes that have long names like "Population Metrics in Global Health"; that's my excuse.

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