120 ... Gabriel Morrisinspiring and uplifting—something I definitely needed while walking
my own difficult spiritual path.
I didn’t want to wear out my welcome with Matt, so at the end of
the week I decided it was time to move on. I called Janine the night
before she’d said she was headed back to California and arranged for
her to pick me up the next morning. Since she was headed back to
the same town where my brother was attending college, I felt that I
should pay him a visit. Besides, it seemed like a pretty clear sign for
where I should head next. I gave Christo a call to make sure I was
welcome to stay with him for a little while. He was glad to hear that
I was coming. Janine and I left Eugene early in the morning and drove
down Interstate- through heavy rain and even some light snow. It
happened that my mom and step-dad were out of town right then,
and Ukiah was a perfect halfway point, so we crossed over to High-
way 101 and made it to my mom’s that night. We spent the night
there, then continued driving the following day. Janine dropped me
off at my brother’s place that evening.
My brother lived in a small, wooded trailer park on the UC Santa
Cruz campus, in a narrow, short trailer. It had barely enough room
for one person to occupy and feel as if they actually had a home, so,
it was very generous of Christo to let me stay there with him for two
whole weeks. I slept in my sleeping bag on the floor of the trailer,
what could be called the kitchen, which allowed barely two feet of
space down the center of the trailer. Each morning I’d roll up my
camping mattress and sleeping bag so that we had enough room to
move around and make breakfast.
As in Eugene, I spent a lot of time just walking around campus,
reading, watching movies in the library, and going on hikes in the
nearby redwoods. My brother managed to find some time between
classes and on the weekend to hang out with me, during which we
did some exploring of the local beaches and parks.
After I’d been with Christo for two weeks, I was ready to continue
on my way and give my brother back his trailer. The night before
leaving, I happened to get a call from Rnu, a co-worker and friend