Nice things happen.

A nice thing happened to me tonight. I was going for a walk, and decided to drop by a friend's house to check in on some plans for this weekend. The friend was not there...he was camping. But his roommate was there, a seasonal park ranger, and he was firing up the grill. I stopped and said hello.

He had a beer, and had some music cranked up. What kind of music? Why, Dish channel 6017, the Jam Band channel. Today, it was all Garcia and Grateful Dead, in honor of the 10th anniversary of Jerry's death. He took a telephone call so I sat on the front porch in a rocking chair, drinking Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, enjoying the view of the cliffs, listening to an epic Dead jam, and suddenly it crystallized into "Franklin's Tower." I have not heard that song in years...years. I had a smile on my face a mile wide. The scenery, the music, the beer...all gentle reminders of days gone by, happier times with less responsibility. It warmed my heart.

This was totally unexpected. I was just going for an evening walk and it turned into something quite surprising, and very nice. You find Dead Heads in the most unusual places, although a park ranger as a former Dead Head is not too far out of the realm of possibility. We chatted about shows and parking lots and parties and all the other stuff that went on. It was a great stroll down memory lane. I was surprised that this all unfolded the way it did, as if the Dead were calling to me on some unknown frequency. I took the call.