Baruch's Blog

Back at my brother's in Vermont...just went swimming in the pond with the kids, in the hot summer day, so nice!

Plans are shaping up. The camper is almost emptied out...I am getting 150 miles more per tank of gas without the camper, wow! I'm reducing the load of stuff yet again, and it feels good.

I've been continuing to volunteer as the webmaster for the clinic in New Orleans, http://cghc.org. The site is getting a lot of traffic, and donations through the web site are increasing.

As I prepare to head west I am in a fund raising process for gas and food. It occurred to me today as I was driving back north that perhaps people would be interested in making a donation to me in support of the web work for the clinic, so I thought I'd mention it here. Anyone interested, drop me an email, and thank you. I'd like to raise at least $500 in the next week or so.

One thing that has taken a more solid form for me in the last 6 months is a concept of my job. My job is to be the name Baruch, which means blessing, or blessed. I am blessed, there is no question. I meet fantastic people, have amazing experiences, and am alive. To be a blessing means to me to bring as much joy as I can into my interactions, to be helpful where I can. The former is easier and easier. I find myself feeling friendly towards strangers, and enjoying the little moments as well as the bigger moments with friends and family.

As I travel the part about being helpful changes form, and being a guest in so many homes offers the challenge of becoming tired of being a guest, wanting to just be, and yet going from place to place where it is incumbent upon me to be helpful, beyond what I feel like doing. That got tough for me towards the end of my stay in Holland, which was pointed out to me, so I am looking at that.

So that's my job. The paycheck is sporadic, the benefits are very interesting, and the work itself is amazingly gratifying.