Amid the lesson plans and curriculum maps and bureaucratic hoops, amid the constant round of homemaking and mothering, amid the demands for money that I don't have, I've gotten a little crazy. I still miss Wisconsin and I keep referring to it as "back home". I got an irrepressible urge (almost a call) to write along with a numbing case of writer's block. So I wrote my Dad a letter. I talk to my mom on the phone, and Dad is always on the extension. He just can't get a word in edgewise. So if I want to communicate with the old man it has to be either when Mom's not home or it has to be in writing.
The great thing is that Dad is closet humorist and very articulate. So, my brilliant idea is to compile our letters into a kind of epistolary dual memoir.
He sent me this great story from Joel ben Izzy"s "The Beggar King and the Secret of Happiness"
The Vow of Silence
There was oonce a man who decided to enter a monastery. On his arrival, he took a vow of silence. He was not to utter a single word for five years, at which time he would be granted a five-minute interview with the abbot.
Five years later, the abbot summoned him.
"What do you have to say of your time here?" asked the abbot.
The monk thought for a moment, then said, " At first, I had a problem with the concept of the Holy Trinity, but have now come to understand it. Also, it has been difficult to awaken each morning at four o'clok, but I have grown used to it."
"Is that all you have to say?" asked the abbot.
The man nodded.
"Very well, our next meeting will be in five years."
Five years later, the man went to see the abbot.
"What do you have to say?"
"Well, it has not been easy to accept the truth of the catechism, but I have done so. Also, it's been hard to be content eating only one bowl of gruel each day."
"Is that all you have to say?"
The man nodded.
"Very well, our next meeting will be in five years."
Five years later, the man went again to see the abbot.
"What do you have to say?"
"It has been a challengee to accept the idea of divine grace, but I have done so. Also, it has been somewhat uncomfortable sleeping on a stone floor with no attress for all these years, but I have grown used to it."
"Is that all you have to say?"
"No, there is one more thing. I', leaving the monastery."
"Well, it's about time! You've done nothing but bitch and moan since you got here."
That's my dad!