Tomorrow is my family’s Annual Easter Beer Hunt.

Last year, we had lots of family in town. This year it will be a more intimate affair. This video shows some of the Beer Hunt Family Silliness as well as me in an easter bonnet and my nephew a year ago:

This video from the previous year shows my roommate Shonda and Grandpa Caleb rocking the hunt!

Last year on Vday, I co-hosted a magical gathering with Grandpa.

In this video, we invite everyone, not just the couples to join us in hugs and love:

and watch the video from The Huggable Day, itself. (This was Grandpa’s farewell party).
Much of the last year (The Hug Tour, Hugmobile, and the evolution of HugNation) grew forth from seeds planted on that day.

I’m excited about Hugnation today.

1) It is Vday week! And that means it is time to get HUGGABLE! (aka “Love Day” for the single people.)

Here’s the video from Valentine’s Day a year ago. We invited everyone to join us for Grandpa’s last party. The love was magical:

song by Aradhana Silvermoon.

2) We’re going to try out the new Yahoo Live!

The topic will be “What is Natural? What is Sin?”

See you at 1pm Pacific in the lounge!

For my whole life, the real world and the world of myths was connected through the following picture:

The image of my grandfather, working with MLK as peers…it had a profound impact on me. It showed me that great men were not the creations of story books. But were the very same people as you and me. The picture was a reminder to me of the potential of every one of us.

This is the first year that both the people in the photo are no longer here physically.

Thankfully, the lesson is burned deep in to my core.

May you remember the lives of the giants whose shoulders we stand on. And may you remember your brilliant potential today!

Love,
-john halcyon

p.s. My Grandpa wrote the following in his blog a few years ago:

I have been asked:: “Who is the greatest Person you ever met? In my 88 years on this Planet the answer for me is ‘Martin Luther King, Jr.’ None of you heard him but he preached in our First Baptist Church of Denver. When Carol and I were pastoring there.

In one of his closing sermons he said:

“If I died tomorrow I would like for people to say I tried to clothe the naked and visit those who were in prison. I tried to be right on the war question. I tried to love everyone. If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major For justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for justice, and for righteousness. All of the other shallow things will not matter. I wont have any money to leave behind. I wont have luxurious things to leave behind. I want to leave behind a committed life:

“If I can help somebody as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or a song, if I can show somebody he’s traveling wrong, then, my living will not be in vain. If I can do my duty as a Christian ought, if I can bring salvation to a world once wrought, if I can spread the message as the Master taught, then my living will not be in vain.”

…I rejoice in the memory and example of this great man. Thanks for scrolling and I hope you will squeeze every day making meaningful and fulfilling relationships.

This was recorded a few years ago. But I love that his wisdom and love remains a part of my life.

Last night I went to a celebration honoring my childhood pastor’s 50 year anniversary of ordination.

He was a great minister.

I remember telling him all sorts of doubts and questions during my confirmation classes. And he encouraged it. He did not try to persuade or convince me of anything. He encouraged me to seek and find what worked for me.

I am VERY grateful to have had him be my introduction to religious authority.

Last night I was extremely weepy during the service. almost everything made me cry…not in a sad way. Just unfocussed, overhwelming emotion.

I think I understood why when I was leaving the church. As I exited and gave Rev. Doug a hug, I accidentally said, “Thank you, Grandpa.”

I read from grandpa’s decade old sermon, “The School of Suffering.”

For today’s HugNation I am going to read from one of Grandpa’s old Sermons called “The School Of Suffering.”

Join us!

When I was really young, my strongest connections to my grandpa revolve around rocks.

He lived in Colorado and climbed mountains.
I remember him taking me to cool places where he had found dinosaur bone fossils.

He was known for wearing bolo ties with rocks or fossils that he had put through a rock tumbler. In fact at his funeral, all my uncles wore Grandpa’s old bolo ties.

I didn’t make the connection to his old hobby, but for the last couple years I described Grandpa as being “softened like a river rock.”

When he was younger, I’m told he was more of a fire and brimstone preacher. But by his final chapter, he had lost the sharp edges of homophobia, nationalism, and evangelicalism.

He called himself a Baptist Buddhist and frequently wrote that “All religions are true.” *

I love the metaphoric beauty of river rocks, They are smoothed by time, not force. And that seems to describe grandpa, too. Life experiences, like the ever-flowing rush of water, removed the beliefs that did not resonate with love. All the harshness was rubbed away by the universal flow.

After reading a friend’s blog post a few days ago about rock tumblers, all the old memories of grandpa’s rocks came flowing back. I suddenly felt a deep desire to have a polished fossil of my own. So I went on ebay until I saw something that reminded me of what Grandpa used to have. I bid, won, and now am wearing a polished piece of fossilized coral.

It reminds me of grandpa. It reminds me to be softened by the flow. It anchors me to the timeless cycles of all living things.

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