At the end of August I rode a train south to Urbana from Chicago. Upon arriving Rachel meets me at the station and drives us to her house, which is where I had lived for twelve years, leaving in 2011, and now having returned after an absence of thirteen years. Walking the streets of Urbana my subconscious mind mixed with the conscious in a more dramatic fashion than usual. I had a deep knowledge of the streets and alleys, houses and parks, buried deep in memory which had not been used in a long while.
I began painting the house on September 1st and completed the project successfully five weeks later. I would start the work at 8:00am and finish between 2:00-5:00pm, taking a break at 11:00am and drinking a glass of chocolate milk for lunch at noon. I silently recited Amitabha Buddha while standing on the ladder applying paint to the house. If I was to complete the project I knew I could not do it on my own, I needed help for something too large for my abilities, and so I made sure to pray every morning and continuously call upon the Great Protector for inspiration and protection. Unusual thought patterns propelled me to the finish line, among them that the painting project was similar to running a 100 mile ultra-marathon. I recollected the factory and warehouse jobs I did during my university years and those experiences greatly helped me to the end of each day. When needed I took days off, a couple of days it rained. During down time I walked the streets and usually visited Japan House and walked the beautiful grounds there. I met Rachel's new friends and some of her old ones. I was well fed and slept on a comfortable bed. I went to bed sore and tired but usually woke with enough energy and stamina to slog through another day of painting. The totality of the experience appeared like a dream, it had come on so suddenly and unexpected that it did not look like a picture of reality but more like a manifestation of a story created inside my mind. During the final week I concluded that my time spent painting the house was one of the most satisfying and meaningful experiences of my lifetime. It increased my faith in the Great Protector because to not only be offered the opportunity for such an experience, but to complete it, was yet another experience of the miraculous, brought to the edge of a cliff and then pulled back by an invisible hand to live another day.
I am now back in Chicago, exhausted, knee aching, back stiff. I plan to rest until my body sufficiently recovers. I now have money in the bank so don't have to experience daily hunger. What I will now do with my time I do not know, I will leave it up to the Great Protector to decide. Once my knee recovers I plan to wander about the city giving money to people who ask for it. The Great Protector gifted me money and I will now offer it to those who cross my path.