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We’re just taking our time.

Published
by
Rick Dancer
on November 12, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 6 Comments

I love hanging out with my wife. For 30 years she’s been my best friend. We are equal partners in this relationship and that’s the only reason it works. 

I think it’s really important to find something you like to do with your spouse. A few years ago, Kathy took up cycling. We each bought bikes, we’ve got all the gear and this morning we put it to good use. She got on line, while I was writing on this blog, and found a route for us to ride. We rode 35 miles and our ride took us up the Rogue River, along the Pacific Ocean and through the Squaw Valley. It was so great. Part of the ride it poured down rain and we were soaked from head to toe. But there’s something about riding a bike that makes you feel amazing. This will sound odd but you get so into it that as some point you truly feel like you are part of the bike. Okay, call the shrink to get me some help, but it’s true.

While on the ride, out in the middle of nowhere, we saw this RIck Dancer for SOS sign. It was a reminder of what we’ve left behind, how hard we worked together on the campaign, and how much we’ve learned in the process. I would never go back. I’m so glad we took that journey and who knows what that means in the future. People keep asking me whether we’ll run for something again. The answer hasn’t change: We really don’t know. Too soon to tell. 

So for now I just need to get back in touch with Kathy and she with me. Writing, reading, talking and cycling are just some of the ways we do that.

We’re just taking our time.

Dig it.

Published
by
Rick Dancer
on November 12, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

This picture is perfect. It describes my life over the past eight months. My computer, my coffee cup, my journals and my bible, and a chair sitting their waiting for me. I’m back, I’ve picked up my shovel and am ready to dig.

As I sit here gazing at the Rogue River, the tree’s, and listening to my wife ask a few questions about today’s 37 mile bike ride, I hear a still small voice, once quite familiar, whispering in the deep recesses of my soul. “Welcome back”.

I’m listening to a CD Series that aired on NPR called “What I Believe”. It’s giving me some great ideas for a project we can all work on together. I’ll tell you more as the idea begins to germinate. Right now the idea is simply pancake batter, on a grill, with a few bubbles on top. It’s nowhere near ready to turn over.

So, here’s my thought for the moment. For the past eight months I’ve been so preoccupied (had to be really) with running for office, I lost a piece of myself. I forgot about the guy who finds strength in excavating the soul and pouring what he finds onto a screen (the modern form of paper).

Preoccupation is a dangerous thing and yet it’s so accepted and encouraged in our culture. We mask obsession with words like driven and hard worker so the truth sounds better. We don’t value (enough) moments of deep thought. Instead we flood the airwaves with key phrases, buzz words and speeches that fail to offend and often times rolls off the eardrum and into the same space where Radio and TV signals go when there’s no one to receive them. I always wondered what happened to our newscast when it was over. If people weren’t watching, where did that signal go? I believe old TV signals go to the same place banging symbols and old political ads go, Apathy Hell.

Anyway, a culture without depth is a dangerous place to live.

If someone dares to articulate moments of depth on a public venue such as a blog, the critics are found waiting in the wings, with a computer (for some a modern form of public torture) in an effort to limit the conversation to the voice of one. Free speech is costly. It takes moments of deep thought to do more than create a headline or attack someone who has different ideas.So here we go. It’s nice to be back. Now, I’m going to sit back in that chair and do what I love most…..Dig.

Lost Not Found.

Published
by
Rick Dancer
on November 10, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 5 Comments

I lost an election and gained Humility.

I lost a job and found Freedom.

I used to look to others for understanding.

But I’ve lost the desire to be understood.

We live in a culture that encourages us to find ourselves.

Perhaps the real goal should be to lose ourselves.

To be lost not found.

In losing we find.

33 years later.

Published
by
Rick Dancer
on November 9, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

When I was kid, 13 years old, my parents bought an A&W drive-in in Seaside. It was a tough time in my life. Puberty was setting in, I didn’t know who I was yet, I was at an age where I just needed something. The woman next to me in this picture is Kim Bjork. She used to be Kim Puckett. She is two and a half years older than me, but at 13 I thought she was the most wonderful person on the face of the earth. She used to take me around town (she could drive) and introduce me to people. She was so cool. She knew everyone and she was so good to me. My parents sold the restaurant when I was 16. I hadn’t heard from Kim in all those years. When I showed up in Astoria, as a candidate, Kim saw the article in the paper and figure out it was me. She wrote me and told me to get in tough with her.

While visiting Astoria, I decided to call Kim. We met (Kathy, Rick, Kim and her husband Dennis) for lunch today and had such a great time. It’s odd to see people you haven’t seen in that many years and see how rich their lives turned out. She still has many of the same mannerisms I remember as a kid. Her eyes, her smile…still the same. She even holds her hands, under her chin, the way she used to. Kim always called me Ricky. That hasn’t changed either. I caught her a couple of times referring to me as “Ricky”.  Life is so strange. We each make imprints on people’s lives, imprints that end up in the deep recesses of our brain where they sit dormant for decades. Then one day, the gray matter remembers something. Perhaps a sign, a memory, a smile or a fond smell and all of the sudden it all rushes back. Kathy and I had a great time with Kim and Dennis. After 33 years it’s good to see how well her life turned out. She has a place near Astoria with an extra room nearby. I have a feeling this won’t be the last time we see them. 

33 years later….imprinted forever on my heart.

Progressives?

Published
by
Rick Dancer
on November 9, 2008
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

Kathy and I were just down at breakfast listening to the most interesting conversation. These folks from Albany were talking about how “Progressive” they are. They talked about how “Conservative” Corvallis used to be and chuckled as they talked about how that’s “Finally” starting to change. The whole thing hit me as being very snobby, elitist and damaging to a political system that is on the brink of collapse. (my opinion)

There is this attitude in Oregon that anyone who thinks differently is somehow stupid. It’s as if to be “Conservative” means you haven’t been enlightened. What happened to diversity of opinion? I didn’t notice this as much while I was on the campaign because the differences I had with my opponents seemed to center on issues.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve heard the same sort of talk in the conservative circles as well. I’ve heard the hardcore right-winger who says, “The problem is we’re right and they are all wrong”. To that I said to him, “Good Luck With That”. 

True progressive thinking, in my mind would be, the kind of attitude that says, maybe the way I see the world isn’t the only way. Maybe my ideology is not the only one. Maybe when I look down my nose at other’s I’m really acting regressively rather than progressively.