On Tuesday my husband and I visited the college apartment of A. It was a bona fide bachelor pad, where our friend carved out a little niche in the living room for his desk, folders, various personal items, and his Gohonzon. He had just taken a midterm that day and was anxious about it, and riding back home from it he "took a spill" on his bike in the pouring rain and landed hard on cement. We discussed how important it was to chant for something specific in mind, more than just "wisdom" as he put it, because that helped him chant with more resolve. Amidst his studies, work, Buddhist club activities on campus and social life he somehow fits in Rock the Era activities.
Today I strolled my baby a mile to M.'s house, which is right on the green belt bike path. She began chanting after her mother, a retired judge, began practicing ten years ago in the Bay Area. M. talked about how she wanted more motivation to chant, and we decided to visit some Buddhist members together to kick start our big dreams for the future and open up more possibilities.
Tonight I took the youngest member of our district, my one-year-old daughter, to visit the most senior member. E. is ninety years old and is the niece of the great Eleanor Roosevelt. Her daughter and caretaker were also there to chant along with us. After chanting she kept saying how much she loved the baby.
I thought I would do some yoga tonight but I'm just too tired.

Yesterday afternoon I visited M. at her quaint apartment in West Davis. She invited me in to her immaculate room, with all her books and various sundries neatly stacked on a shelf. Tiny florescent post-it notes enlivened the space above her computer. A humble black Buddhist altar sat at the center of the room, and below it, a list of goals she was chanting for. We talked about her future plans for the next year, and what she wants to do when she graduates UC Davis. I asked her why she recently started chanting, and she told me about her boyfriend who told her if she tried chanting she would "become happy." Though she was previously a Christian, she said that she had never heard a religion promise to make people happy and that intrigued her. We also discussed the upcoming "Rock the Era" celebration in L.A. I realized while encouraging her to participate I knew very little about it. All I could say was that based on experience, it was something she wouldn't want to miss!

This morning I travelled 13 miles east of Davis through acres of farmlands before reaching my destination--the sleepy town of Winters. There I met C. at her lovely Victorian farmhouse, renovated for the modern family with high ceilings, hardwood floors, and a fine animal entourage of a cornfield snake and a turtle. Next to her family's house was a grand church built probably around the same time, late nineteenth century. A menacing orange tree weighed down by the winter's bounty separated her and the church. We sat and talked, and did some Buddhist chanting for over an hour. I felt refreshed.