First Month of Travels Part I: LA, Las Vegas, Flagstaff

It is February 21st and I am seated in the loft at the home where my mom resides in Oceanside, CA. I am here just for a short time, maybe a few more days. I added this stop onto my journey because my grandpa (we called him Poppy!) passed away last week mostly unexpectedly. It is a privilege and honor to be with my mom and in this house, which belonged to my grandparents, in the after moments of Poppy’s departure. We don’t really have grieving or mourning practices in my family and community, though, so I find myself in disbelief that he is gone. The other day I was helping my mom sort through and organize the many, many bins that have taken up most of the garage.

“What the heck!” I said, in the middle of sorting nothing in particular. “What?” my mom asked, curious as to what I had found. 

“I just remembered that Poppy died.”

I honor and hope to engage more with the memory of my grandparents – my moms parents – who are now reunited in the Ethereal home together, looking down at us as we continue to fumble through this life! Hopefully we can make them laugh and make them proud.

I am just over 6 weeks into my pilgrimage, and I ask for forgiveness for not sharing more information via this platform. It has been a very busy, profound, experiential time, and I think I have the wrong posture about blogging that prevents me from doing it, but God willing I can shift that!

I last wrote from Los Angeles, where I shared a meal with my cousin Amanda and then spent a few days with my cousin Kelsey. While there, I hiked an incredible trail in the Topanga State Park with the most breathtaking views of the ocean and Los Angeles. I was breaking in my new hiking boots that I would be using for water drops in the desert, and wanted to condition my body some more. It was an almost 3-hour journey through bluffs, canyons, and an amazing waterfall. 

The next day, my cousin and I embarked on a metro-trek into downtown from Culver City to find Homeboy Industries, a place I know so much about via my followings of the amazing and sure to be saint Fr. Greg Boyle. When we arrived, it was closed, but a gentleman named Marcos let us in. It was delightful and privileged to receive Marcos’s hospitality – he kept us engaged in profound conversation for over an hour! He shared about the work of Homeboy Industries, his own story as a recovering drug addict, and about the persistence of “G” (who he mostly referred to as “Dad”) in his relationships with the gang and drug-involved folks who come through the organization. Marcos helped us understand that it can take years and years and years before people are really able to choose differently for their lives but that it doesn’t phase Fr. Greg – he, and thus the organization, continue giving people unconditional love and welcome. 

Marcos said multiple times that the organization would cease to exist if it weren’t for the persistent presence of Fr. Greg. 

“You just want to be in the world who God is: compassionate, loving, and kind, and all the while you want to take seriously what Jesus took seriously. [We need to be] anchored in the marrow of the message: inclusion, non-violence, unconditional loving-kindness and compassionate acceptance, and if we take those four things seriously, then we are aligned with the Heart of God.” (-Greg Boyle, S.J., from the episode “Leading with Tenderness” of the podcast Encounters With Dignity)

On my way to my next stop in Las Vegas, I stopped for the morning in Pasadena to meet for the first time in person a beloved companion, Lillian, who I know through participating in an 18-month-long virtual spiritual formation program called Contemplative Leaders in Action. She took me to Mass and afterwards we spent about an hour in a separate space of the church bagging food donations to be distributed to community members who are food insecure, and then made our way to Twoheys, a Pasadena brunch staple 🙂

I was graced with the opportunity to see Lillian’s apartment home before leaving for Las Vegas and we delighted in deep conversation about values, family, supporting refugees, and lots of other topics. I didn’t want to leave!

In Las Vegas, I found myself on an air mattress in the living room of a sort-of-one-bedroom apartment with a young couple and their precious 5-year-old. In the tiny space of a makeshift kitchen, the mom and I talked for hours about everything under the sun. She made me delicious food and I tried a Venezuelan Arepa for the first time (fresh, hot, filled with love!!!). 

I picked up my mom at the Las Vegas airport a few days later and we drove to Flagstaff, where we shared delightfully ordinary moments with my little brother Briggs – watching the sunset on the top of the snow covered mountain, going to the movies, driving down to Sedona and falling in love with the red rocks. It was restorative and tender and profound – I am blessed with the opportunity to share adventures like this with my loved ones!

Stay tuned for parts II, III, and IV…… 🙂