Buddha said that life consists of “a thousand joys, a thousand sorrows”, and this week we have experienced both.
We received news last week that our dear friend Peter Mock died, which has saddened us both. We spent such wonderful times in Coarsegold with Peter and Gabriele during our cross-country tour; and we had a farewell dinner with them (little did we know) at the R&G Lounge, site of many Chinese New Year celebrations with Peter and his family, before we left for Nepal. Our hearts go out to Gabriele and we wish we could be with her during this impossible time.
Peter was in the midst of writing a memoir – when we had him over for dinner this summer, Dick said, “You’d better get on it, Peter – you don’t have much time left!” Unfortunately, that was a prophetic statement (and typically Dick, don’t you think?) but luckily we arranged for Peter to work with our friend Pam Feinsilber, an excellent editor, and they had completed several chapters before his death… he had just sent us a draft to read two days before he died. His sisters have told us that they plan to finish it, which is a wonderful tribute to Peter – and the memoir will be a priceless chapter in the history of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
As far as a thousand joys, we are working with the children on their Christmas program – an Ama Ghar version of “A Christmas Carol”, complete with Bollywood dancing and a Sanu Santos (small Santos) instead of Tiny Tim. Our message is that for all of us who live in this house - Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews – Christmas is a time of joy and giving, where we can forget our sorrows and raise our voices in song… whether it’s “Joy To The World” or “Jai Ho”! Peter and Gabriele were such generous contributors to Ama Ghar - we will think of them as we sing.
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