I’ve known young William since 2016 when I stumbled upon a piece he’d written at Northwestern University, and was blown away by his intelligence and wit. And now here we are – ten years later – and today I finally got to meet William in the person!

William is extraordinary. This is not hyperbole. He actually is extraordinary. He’s kind and wise, and has a wonderful sense of humor. He’s a rocket scientist, a novelist, a cartographer, and he’s working on his second master’s degree – and he hasn’t even hit 30, yet!

This summer’s he’s been up here from his home base in California, doing an internship in the Seattle area. And today we met up for lunch at Tweets Cafe in the little foody town of Edison.

I got to introduce William to Mickey, who helped me when I found a turtle at Lake Padden, and who I later learned worked at Tweets. Mickey is AWESOME! We ordered our lunches – a half a roasted chicken for William, a quiche for me – and then sat out on the deck and talked and laughed like the old friends we are.

After lunch, I gave William a little tour of Edison and we bought treats at Breadfarm. Iris was manning the counter, and she was a hoot! She was very patient with me, and when I asked her if I could take her picture, she said she’d just go fetch our treats and then be back in a moment for her photo shoot.

A line of classic cars came through town, and I managed to snap a quick picture of a golden beauty. And little Baker and Brody pups appeared, and I got a picture of them, too.

William followed me in my car, Rosalita Ipswich O’Molenovich, with his car, Trigger, and I brought him back home so’s Scotty could give him a tour of his orchard, and I could give him some of Dad’s old maps. (I remembered that William had created his own maps for his novels, and thought he might appreciate bringing home a couple of Dad’s maps.)

And then it was time for William and Trigger to move on to more adventures (this was the most north Trigger and William have ever been – but tomorrow they go to Canada where they will set a new record for themselves.)

This week has brought me so many lovely meetings with old friends – with my former student, Jamie; with my old friend, Deidre; with Freida, a friend I met 50 years ago, and hadn’t seen for 25 years; with the Kuykendalls, who brought me that post card from the 1975 K2 expedition with Pop’s K2 painting on the cover; and, today, with my old young friend, William. This week has been a healing week for me – full of laughter and people who inspire me.

I am grateful for all the good. I am wealthy beyond imagining in the things that really matter.