Milton Magazine - Milton Academy

we can restore calm and peaceto the environment in whichwe’re living. Fresh flowers on thekitchen counter every week canbe a reminder of beauty, and acalming focus amid chaos. Olivianotes, “Sometimes I wonderedhow it was possible to feel, evenin the midst of difficult circumstances,that at some level all waswell. The emphasis here is onthe word level. The wisdom traditionsspeak about the relative andabsolute levels of reality. Relativereality is the world as we knowit—conditioned, governed byduality—whereas absolute realityis unconditioned, beyond duality,free. We can have glimpses ofthat level even in the presence ofdeath.”Contemplation. “This situationwith Hob is teaching you how todie,” a teacher advised Olivia at ameditation retreat. “Everything’sfalling apart. You need to feel it,all of it—your frustration, youranger, your grief, whatever—andexperience your full humanness.Accept that the old securitiesare collapsing. It’s all going, andit’s showing you the process ofdeath. This is the biggest thingyou’ve ever done, so you needto be easier on yourself.” SaysOlivia, “Showing me the processof death. Those were illuminatingwords. I knew that Hob wasin the final chapter of his life,but I hadn’t focused on howmuch I was living in a parallelprocess. Together we were learningabout loss and acceptance,letting go and death. This washard, but these were the gifts.”Wisdom. As Hob’s illness progressed,he lost his ability toarticulate his thoughts andinnermost feelings, and little bylittle, death was happening bystages. Be happy only. “More thanalmost any teaching, Hob hadembraced this very one aboutfinding happiness in the presentmoment—a statement that ispreposterously obvious, deceptivelysimple, but not always soeasily lived out... Those were thelast words I heard him speak.How fitting—words that couldbe heard as a universal wish forall beings. Everywhere.”Patience. The full circle comesback to patience, and the journeyof life and death continuesthrough the six perfections;patience with ourselves, patiencewith the other, patience withthe process, patience in the living,patience in the waiting, andpatience in the moment, whichis all one really has.Thank you, Olivia, for sharingthe immense challenges of learninghow to live and how to die,for sharing your family’s courageousjourney, and for teachingus, once again, that we are allhuman.Ellie GriffinDirector of Health andCounseling ServicesWalkoffs, Last Licks,and Final Outs:Baseball’s Grand (andnot-so-grand) FinalesJim Kaplan ’62 and Bill Chuck“Many of baseball’s most memorablemoments come fromendings, otherwise known as‘last licks.’ But even the mostcelebrated last licks have aspectsfans are not aware of.” (ACTASports) In Jim Kaplan and BillChuck’s book, they provide a collectionof game-by-game detailsrecounting the little knownfacts about some of the greatestmatch-ups in American baseballhistory. In Jon Miller’s forewordhe writes, “In this treasure ofa book…you’ll learn the insidestory of how Roberts achievedthe most important stolen basein Red Sox history.” And whilewe all remember, “the Iron Man,Cal Ripkin, Jr., breaking LouGehrig’s consecutive gamesplayedrecord in 1995, [this bookreveals] the story of the night‘The Streak’ ended.”The publisher writes, “Indeed,there is no end to the anecdotes,humor and trivia associated withlast licks. Some of the final actsdescribed in this book include:summary and analysis of someof the great postseason finishes;a comprehensive list of everyperfect game thrown in MajorLeague History and analysis ofthe most impressive streaks;great last moments in some ofthe most famous stadiums inhistory, including Old Comiskey,Crosley Field and the PoloGrounds; eulogies and careerstatistics for ballplayers whopassed before their time, includingUrban Shocker, RobertoClemente and the recent tragedyof Josh Hancock; heroic, andnot-so-heroic endings to Hallof Fame careers. [The book]contains box scores, line scores,career statistics and photos forsome of the greatest games andplayers in MLB history. A musthavefor any baseball library.”Jim Kaplan is a former writer forSports Illustrated, the author ofLefty Grove: American Original,and coauthor of a book aboutAmerican baseball player andmanager Casey Stengel, TheGospel According to Casey.74 Milton Magazine