She was an aggressive kind of lonely. I'd usually feel her in my car when I was driving, and in my bed when I tried to sleep. I was doing taskforce in Clarkston. It was the first year since I started school that I wasn't surrounded by my peers. Clarkston wasn't far from Walla Walla, but it was a long way to my old community. Most of us were out that year. Phil went to Thailand. Alban went to Maryland. Cody went to different schools. David stayed in Walla Walla. But that was before the Estate. Back then we were just five different guys not five guys in five "Five Guys."
Ever since that year, I've thought of community differently. I think many of us have.
I would even say the creation of the West Whitman Estate began in that void. Because creation begins in empty and formless, chaotic quiet. That's where the Spirit came and hovered like a mother hen hovers over her chicks. And it was after the darkness and light and atmosphere and water and land were separated that life could come and fill them. Separation created the necessary space.
Loneliness came over a lot that year, and finally, on a Friday night when my parents were gone, I invited her into my DVD player and this was the first song.
What kind of life will occupy the space of 2,000 plus years? Well, I like to think Bill and Gloria will be a major part.
