A long time ago, I was in grad school, in peak physical experience due to playing extreme gym-rat basketball. I went on a hiking trip in the Enchantments in the Cascades. I was in tune with the world, in the middle of my 'eastern/western/Don Juan/Zen & Motorcycle Maintenance' philosophical clarity of thought, legs pumping and carrying a backpack straight up Aasgard pass, a light dusting of snow making everthing seem very Himalayan. Eight of us, some very real brushes with life and death and insights fueled by shrooms.
I thought this was the peak of my experience as an individual, that I had reached the mountain top only to start the long slow decent down the other side to the end of my life.
But in the mid-90's my wife gave me another experience. With our two boys, we went to Europe for 3 weeks. Starting from an Amsterdam houseboat, we criss-crossed Germany on an unlimited rail pass. Making arrangements and decisions as we went. Cut off from the cares of home, we were on our own, pulling as a family with life intensified by the need every day to make decisions about food and shelter. The trip turned out to have a theme, too, about freedom and fighting. As Jews, we attended services in the synagogue founded by Ann Frank's father and visited Dachau. But there was the Berlin wall, and Munich, and much more.
I thought of this as a second peak in my experience, this one as a family. And I am forever grateful to my wife for giving it to me. Never to be repeated as my boys have left home.
So, I have been waiting for a third peak, something that my wife and I would experience together. But I think the topography has changed. Through fortunate circumstances, we find ourselves in a home with a view of the Puget Sound which delights us constantly. We have a good measure of our health left. We are near a city we love, and our boys are nearby.
My third experience is a walk through a meadow, peaks mastered within sight, but the wildflowers close at hand more to be enjoyed.
