Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

I had a wonderful visit from my friend up north, and I'm grateful she made the trip. She arrived Wednesday midday, and left Sunday morning. We managed to have lunch out and shop one day, go to the modern art museum the next, then her last full day I showed her a succulent garden and later we met my younger daughter, her husband and two boys, and picked out Christmas trees. Then we went to their house and had a Mexican dinner delivered. She has been like an aunt to my daughter, so I was glad they got to connect. But perhaps the highlight was our two friends coming Friday night for dinner, where we did not have to mask, and we were cosy inside, and it felt like before the pandemic. It was just so delightful to have a little dinner party. I hope my friend had a good time. I know she was cold in our old drafty house, and she had trouble sleeping, but that is a problem she has frequently, even at home. We had some intereesting conversations, including one the last night where we realized although her sister and my brother were close to our ages, they were in different eras than we were. In 1963 things changed suddenly and dramatically: civil rights, JFK's assasination, we could wear pants, we all let our hair grow long and took to sandals, jeans and peasant blouses. Conscousness raising became a thing, we marched, drugs were around us. My brother was younger so he had a totally different experience in high school, and my friend's sister was in a bygone era with music, expectations, and aspirations. Now we are in another time when the culture is shifting rapidly, and the disconnect is shocking to many.