Their Journey
Milt and Gail first meet June 1984 in Columbus Ohio at the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. They were both interested in Peace & Justice issues and attended many of the same workshops. After the event they exchanged information about the ongoing initiative to create a U.S. Peace Academy. Gail was on the Board of Directors for the campaign to establish the academy, and Milt was an activist in Colorado supporting the initiative through his church.
They met again at the 1985 GA held in Atlanta, attended several peace–related workshops and continued to share their common interests. After the assembly, they commiserated about the compromise legislation that transformed the idea of a Peace Academy into the U.S. Peace Institute.
There was little other communication over the next 25 years because they were both in committed relationships.
In 2009, Gail ended a long-term relationship and Milt became a widower.
In 2010, they reconnected on a deepening level and on June 3rd, in a personal ceremony of commitment, they joined their lives with mindfulness and soulful openness to the universe and to each other.
Feeling blessed to begin a new phase of their life journey as partners, Gail will continue to call Las Vegas, Nevada her home (at least Winter and Spring); Milt will continue to call Centennial, Colorado his home (at least Summer and Fall).
As they were back in the 1980’s -
25 years ago
Gail – Mid 1980s
|
Milt – Mid 1980s
|
Things Gail & Milt have in Common
- Both are Left-handed.
- Both like blue and have blue eyes.
- Both have an INTJ Myers-Briggs profile.
(Introvert, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging)
- Both became Unitarian Universalists.
- Both were drawn into Peace & Justice issues.
Both are advocates of life-long learning.
- Milt wanted to become a pilot; Gail became one.
- Milt considered the ministry in his mid-teens; Gail became a UU minister in her 50’s.
- Both use journaling as a means of processing life experiences.
- Both named a child after the Irish version of John (Sean / Shawna).
- Both are passionate writers:
- Gail has an M.F.A. in creative writing, is a published poet and the author of four books. Currently she has three manuscripts in process.
- Milt has written/published a number of technical handbooks, and design guidelines related to aerospace engineering and developed several peace-related web sites.
Ways Gail & Milt are different
- Gail lives in the desert; Milt lives in the mountains.
- Milt cooks: Gail thinks she knows where her kitchen is.
- Gail drives a 2008 Prius (her second one); Milt drives a 2012 Chevy Volt.
- Milt has and sometimes even uses a cell phone; You can’t even give one to Gail.
- Gail has a Mac; Milt has a PC.
- Gail has lived in 4 countries and 13 states; Milt has lived in four states.
- Milt has a garage full of tools; Gail has a Swiss Army knife.
- Gail is fascinated by Quantum Physics: Milt is trained in classical physics but slept through classes in quantum theory.
Probability of Meeting.
When you do the math, the likelihood of two strangers being US citizens, being left handed (7-10%) with blue eyes (16%), being INTJ (less than 1%), being UU (0.3%), being a delegate ( 2%) to the same UUAGA , and attending the same Peace and Justice workshops (less than 1% of the GA delegates attended this particular workshop), the probability of their meeting was less than 1 in 10 billion.
Common History
Gail and Milt ‘came of age’ during an era of rapidly expanding awareness, the era of space exploration, the era of atmospheric and oceanographic research, the era of fundamental particle and nuclear energy research, the era of microbiology and DNA research, the era of anthropology, archeology and ecology, the era of exploring human relationships within various economic, social, and political systems.
Both remember vividly July 20, 1969, when humans first set foot on a cosmic object other than the planet earth. Milt was part of the vast Apollo engineering team that made this event possible; Gail was listening to it over transistor radio while volunteering as a nurse in rural Nicaragua. Both experienced a paradigm shift that has taken years of personal and collective reflection to integrate into their daily lives. This human adventure into space provided a strikingly beautiful image of our blue planet earth – a visual image confirming the fact that we live on a planet that appears alone in the vastness of space.
The visual images of earth taken from a perspective beyond earth also convey the fact that during the natural evolution of the planet, nature did not construct political boundaries, walls, or barbed wire fences to prevent /restrict movement of its human and non-human population. Each living being was free to migrate to the niche that best supported its role in the evolving planet.
Today
As verifiable observations of the evolution of our Universe, our Galaxy, our Solar System, our Planet, and all living entities on our planet merge into a new Story, we are becoming more conscious of our connectedness to all that surrounds us.
Thus, these forty-plus years later, Gail & Milt are two individuals who are trying to become more conscious human beings each day – just two more people who are trying to understand their place / role on this planet. As such, they are hoping to link up with like-minded people to share insights and consciousness. With these new insights and increased consciousness, they hope to be able to change their personal behavior and become more responsible beings – to accompany the freedoms they are afforded -to learn to be in right relationship.
Our Mission
The realization of the simple fact that that we are all in this together, with only the finite supplies already on board spaceship Earth and the daily energy from the Sun to sustain us becomes the basis of reality that we can build upon.
We are becoming more conscious of our privilege and responsibility as living beings with free will - beings free of the shackles of DNA programmed response. As a result of this evolving awareness and increased consciousness of the impacts of our very existence, we can no longer wander mindlessly through life - seeking instant self-gratification. For our long term survival as a living species, for the sake of our planet, it is now time to assume full responsibility for our actions.
Together we can help each other sort fiction from fact, self-serving rhetoric from sustainable reason, political propaganda from political problem solving, and ranker from right relation.
As elders we are afforded time and perspective to identify, review, and assimilate today's awareness of where we have been over the past 13.7 billion years and where we are now. As elders we are obliged to contribute to the collective consciousness essential to sustaining life on Planet Earth.
This web site documents steps of our journey and is intended to serve as a portal to convey what we are learning and allow others to contribute their wisdom.
During their years together, Gail and Milt have often looked back and observed their growing spiritual attachment to the natural world - to the Real World described in the ever unfolding Universe Story. Visiting America's National Parks and Monuments, as unhurried elders able to be present in the moment, has been a particular joy. It is with utmost gratitude we thank those who came before us and had the wisdom to set aside and protect these sacred sites.
In the spirit of sharing experiences, we continue to "Blog" these visits, and support numerous non-governmental organization formed to protect these sites from commercial desecration. And we are proud to be Life Members of the Sierra Club.
|
