Thanksgiving Day 2009

Setting – In transit from Houston, TX to Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India – during a 12-hour layover in London's Heathrow Airport.

 Players – Bill Boothe: BFF (best friends forever) for over 30 years, architect/land planner extraordinaire, instigator of this India trip, currently living in Phoenix, AZ, USA; Simon Allen:  partner in Lumina Consulting, who I met on a consulting project in London over a year ago, one of those instantaneous, mutual admiration connections, currently living near Gloucestershire, UK; and me.

Background – In an email exchange with Simon, I happened to mention this trip (as I have to most everyone ad nauseum) and the layover in London. And we began talking about setting up a time for the 3 of us to hang out at the airport.

Purpose – Since both of these men are dedicated futurists with lots of experience, and since the juxtaposition of time and opportunity was so fortuitous, I wanted to be a part of any project the two of them might cook up.

Outcome – Four hours went by really quickly. I enjoyed the camaraderie immensely and was especially excited about our discussion of intentional communities – a passion of mine for a long time. The sense of it is that this meeting was preparation for what's next. Ah, yes, I got what I wanted.

Bonus – An unexpected, large dollop of gratitude. On top of this being Thanksgiving Day and being grateful to be alive, grateful for the quality of my life, grateful for the quality of the people – the Many people in my life – especially family and friends; I am also grateful for the serendipitous, mysterious, remarkable meetings of minds/hearts that occur so often in life. Thank you Life/God/The Force/Universal Light – thank you for it ALL.