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Part 1 Part 2 Friday, June 16 7:00 AM: Phone does the ding-a-ling thing. I chase the leftover sleep from my eyes, slide into shorts and a tank top, and don my running shoes. 7:03 AM: My roommate follows suit. He’s gonna be my buddy this morning. 7:12 AM: After some short stretches and warm-ups, we hit the pavement. 7:13 AM: Mountains are hard. 7:16 AM: Hills do nasty things to your calves. Ergh. 7:19 AM: We pull a strong finish across the bridge and commence with exercises. Yoga for him, bodyweight shenanigans for me. 7:27 AM: My skin’s tacky. Ick. I take a shower. 7:40 AM: It’s my favorite time: breakfast time. I saunter over to the SAYF dorm, munch some greens, mix a little parfait, and roll out a hardboiled egg. I eat it outside. The morning is peaceful. 7:58 AM: My morning activities don’t start for a couple hours. I wander to the main building and check Facebook, work on some creative projects, and see if anybody I know wanders by. 8:25 AM: Nobody has wandered by and I’m still tired; 9 hours of sleep apparently wasn’t enough to make up for my marathon the last two days. 8:31 AM: I set a timer and lay down for a quick nap. 9:31 AM: Ding-a-ling. I rouse myself. Better. Much better. 9:37 AM: The day is beeee-autiful. Back at the main building, I grab a cup of coffee and elect to read outside.
9:43 AM: A chapter later, I’m approached by the organizer of the talent show. He wants me to be on a panel of judges, I think? Maybe hecklers? Maybe share in the MC duties? It’s not clear, but sure. I agree. Nothing can go wrong. 9:59 AM: Half a chapter after that, a friend I haven’t seen in years wanders by, and we catch up for a bit. 10:08 AM: The back of my neck gets that wonderfully warm and toasty feeling from the sunshine. My eyes turn into hearts and my lips curl into a grin, though a voice in the back of my mind reprimands me for forgetting sunscreen. 10:25 AM: My friend is in school and doing wonderful things. I find her struggles relatable. 10:43 AM: The first activity of the weekend is about to begin! I say a quick goodbye and pop off to worship sharing. 10:46 AM: I settle into a room with a few older Friends. We absorb and reflect on queries focused on our present and past engagement with racial justice, speaking from the silence when so led. 11:48 AM: Worship sharing ends a little late, but it was worth it. We close the silence and head off for lunch. 12:00 PM: Lunch! Friends! Eating! Yay! 12:50 PM: I’m feeling restless; time to move on. 1:08 PM: I arrive at my afternoon workshop, titled ‘You Know Nothing, Jon Snow.’ Damn, that organizer knows how to catch my attention. 1:17 PM: Workshop begins. It’s not quite what’s advertised. Still pretty good and full of invigorating discussion, once we explain Game of Thrones to the uninitiated, but it takes quite a different focus than I expected. 2:05 PM: This chair is really uncomfortable. 2:56 PM: The workshop wraps up. For once, Quakers end early! 3:08 PM: I claim a spot on the couch for the YAF (Young Adult Friend) business meeting. We have some business we need to meet about, I guess. I offer to be recording clerk and grab my laptop. 3:36 PM: None of the new YAFs can focus on business. Sigh. 3:59 PM: Seriously, can we take turns when we talk? Can we actually get some work done? Sigh. 4:23 PM: Finally, we wrap up the last item on the agenda. Six committees have been created. I’m on three of them. In two days they’ll all be irrelevant. Quaker process at its finest. 4:56 PM: You know what time it is? I know what time it is. It’s dinner time, baby. Yummmmmmm. 6:04 PM: Sated, I head back to my room and address my bloated YouTube feed. 7:16 PM: I close my laptop and move towards the evening plenary. Last night’s was pretty good; I’m excited to see what this one will hold. 7:32 PM: Plenary begins. Two Friends with extensive engagement in racial justice, one black and one white, share their stories and experiences. It’s all right. Nice people, but there’s not much chance for us to dig deeper. 9:05 PM: Plenary ends. I’d love to stay for Chat and Chew, but I have another event. I grab a cookie for good measure and take off. 9:12 PM: After a brisk walk to the SAYF dorm, I see yet another friend who’s been absent for years. She’s visiting for the night. I make squeaky noises of joy. 9:19 PM: We commence the Fishbowl, a sharing activity where different generations can ask other anonymous questions about their experiences. We old folks are in chairs. The young folks are piled atop each other on the floor. I fondly recall those days, but also feel a smug sense of satisfaction. 9:36 PM: I elect to share the question I selected: “When, if ever, did you stop caring what people thought of you?” It’s a doozy, but I answer as best I can. Others chime in. 11:03 PM: Fishbowl ends. Man, how time flies. 11:09 PM: SAYFers gather in the kitchen to celebrate birthdays. There are three huge cakes. They have YAFs use the big knives. Probably for the best. 11:31 PM: A few of us pull aside the lead chaperone to address an advocacy issue raised in business meeting, relating to dorm segregation along the gender binary. We come to consensus, but no real solution emerges. Hrm. Quaker process not at its finest. Still, one of the committees I was on has fulfilled its purpose. 11:42 PM: That’s a full lid, everyone. Bedtime for Bonzo.
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