Just Enough Time For Bortkiewicz, the Shakers, Near Meadows, Coffee, and a Big Realization

A sunny late afternoon and a work situation offered me some break time before returning to my duties at home, so I had time to pass through the near meadows of Golden Gate Park, which are an amazing sight in late winter light -- not quite spring, but its own thing ...

... just like these four pieces of Sergei Bortkiewicz, a composer often compared to Chopin and Rachmaninoff, but truly his own thing, with his own distinct voice...

So many alternations of light and shade and beauty ... within each piece and between pieces ... like the trees in the wind in the near meadows ... so close to the familiar, and yet so far, with a seat the winter offered me that I had never seen before.

I was delighted by this view, and delighted by the seat and time enough to listen to Bortkiewicz, write in my journal, and, on the fictional side of the fourth wall, be pleasantly surprised with a cup of coffee.

"It is just time for Kaffee und Kuchen, Frau Mathews -- now you see why Germans traditionally take a break at this lovely time of day."

"Ich sehe -- danke," I said with a smile as I took the cup from the Ghost of Musical Greatness Past. "You went all the way back to Andytown Roasters for this ... how sweet!"

"There are a few locations in the city, so I did not need to go back to Salesforce Park -- I will take you to the one nearer where I have my bank on another day," he said.

"Vielen Dank," I said.

"Gern geschehen, mein geliebtes Blumenkind."

He leaned back against the tree and sighed in deep relaxation.

"I love that you are making use of the time you have to rest and relax, Frau Mathews, even though it is not where you expected. I thank you for inviting me into this beautiful afternoon, for we enjoyed so many nearer the beginning of our acquaintance."

"Gern geschehen," I said.

He did not talk over the music, but closed his eyes and enjoyed until it was over, and then smiled tenderly down at me enjoying my cup of coffee.

"I thought a lot about that single cup of coffee last week," he said. "I am still a human man, and a German ... rarely would the coffee come without a sweet ... and you knew I could afford any and everything you wanted on that menu."

"Well, all I wanted was the coffee, and it is a standard rule for me that I would not ask anyone to pay for something out of the ordinary just because they are paying," I said. "I regret that the carbohydrate-heavy portion of the German diet does not agree well with me."

"You remain yourself, Ms. Mathews," he said, switching to the English honorific for the moment. "I am glad to see it. It is a lesson many never learn. I make a further observation about you, now well after the years of your grief: it is not a sense of deprivation that caused that rule. You tend to opt for the simplest effective option, and you get much from that option."

I considered this for a moment, and then said, "Simplicity is a form of freedom."

He smiled, and then caressed the old Shaker hymn with his deep voice:

"'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free, 'tis a gift to come down where we ought to be..."

"The valley of love and delight is looking pretty good today," I said.

"It is indeed, Frau Mathews."

"We have had years now of lessons on the letter A, provided we take 'walk as you are called' as 'ambulate' ... so then, ambulate, abide, adorn, appear, associate, and appropriate have followed. Associate still appears to be lagging a little, but slowly, as you appropriate your new life, it is catching up. What would you guess comes next?"

I thought for a long moment, and then looked around, and smiled.

"Abound," I said, "although the definition from my particular context would not fit many."

"Which is why association is taking longer to catch up," he said. "You are completely outside the paradigm of material consumption and status being the marker for abundance ... for you, abundance is a reality even in a simple cup of coffee, or a glorious golden moment in a late afternoon when you can be here and do so with no duties neglected. Life itself, and its graces, are enough, from here to eternity.

"That said, Frau Mathews, let us go back to the moment in the coffee shop last week, and suppose it was a mortal man buying you a cup. If you sensed he wanted to impress you, you have a choice ... but the need to even make it means he and you would not quite be on the same wavelength. You could order something more expensive, and watch him be pleased with his own ability ... you could stick to your principles, and explain ... or watch him seethe, or assume you are poor and begin to treat you as less valuable ... there are many ways that can go wrong, but recognizing from the very moment of what we gently call 'peacocking' that you are not aligned will save you much trouble later."

"We're not even getting into red flag territory -- sheesh!" I said.

"To get into red flag territory," he said, "you actually have to be in the proximity of the game. I am saying, don't waste your time or anyone else's. Where there is no alignment -- another A word, mind you! -- there is no need to pass judgment or look for flags. That, alone, can be sufficient."

"So, alignment and association go together," I said. "It makes perfect sense how you explain it."

His eyes twinkled.

"Now, in fairness -- although you have done a wonderfully ruthless job of this already it bears mentioning that there is the same necessity of removing those on your side of the human race who are of the mind that --."

And this ethereal bass jumped up three octaves into his highest falsetto and had to take the rest of my coffee back because of this --.

"Girl, you know he has money -- what chu doing just having him buy a coffee?"

I fell out into the grass, laughing!

"I'm so glad that worked, Frau Mathews!" he said as he put the coffee down and got right down there with me. "I had to practice that so many times with Jerome Himes to get my German accent off and I don't think I will ever be able to pull it off again -- I'm so glad that worked!"

"You need to quit!" I said between peals of laughter. "Who told you to enhance your basso buffo credentials and it's not even April 1 yet?"

"Basso profondo buffo, remember," he purred. "Profoundly deep comic bass."

He paused and his eyes twinkled again as he bottomed out his voice in the most stentorian way.

"Welcome to a dimension in which April 1 is always a single flip of the calendar away from wherever you are. Welcome to ... the Knockout Zone."

And this individual went four octaves right back up into his falsetto and hit that Twilight Zone theme pitch-perfect!

I laughed until I saw stars in that bright day.

"I just thought we should make the most of your break time, Frau Mathews," he purred gently as he reached down and gathered me up.

"Oh, we definitely got the most of that!" I said. "Thank you for the beautiful laughter, always!"

He kept his arm around me until I was seated and settled again, and then handed me back my coffee.

"I want you to remember this day, Frau Mathews, and the two weeks of coffee, and how happy you are here. I do not have the power to see the future because I am still your fellow mortal, but I have 78 years of perspective in this world, and close to nine years of direct eternal perspective on high. I therefore foresee that there are going to be more doors opening to you soon, and more opportunity for you to associate. We will be discussing abounding and aligning more as spring approaches and dawns."

He smiled, and glowed up tremendously.

"Long have I waited, Frau Mathews, for this time and these lessons to come, for now, you are beginning to live as you will, everlastingly. One infinitely greater than me, in Whom you believe, said, 'I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.' I am just the echo, Frau Mathews, as you answer Him Who calls you."

"And a faithful echo, indeed -- thank you," I said.