Weekend with a Buddhist nun

I've been in Boulder all weekend for a teaching by Pema Chodron; Heart Advice: The Path of Awakening. Basically it dealt with raising bodhichitta, cultivating a mind wishing to benefit other sentient beings. By recognizing how we each get "hooked" by negative reactions (due to conditioning) to life's trials, we can have compassion for others who are all just like us. Well, there's much more to it obviously, but that's a lifetime of study.
The weekend was so beautiful with lightly warm days, golden and red fall hues, Azure blue skies, and good company of sangha and family. I met two people from opposite coasts who flew in just to hear Pema speak and be in her presence, Merala from the Puget Sound of Washington and Hylke from Amsterdam, via seven years in N.Y.C. We met Stan and Pat for dinner at Dunshanbe in town and had a fantastic time.
Stiff from sitting six hours a day plus the two and a half hour drive each way, I came back to the old challenges of job with renewed intention to put the teachings of the dharma to use. The new waitress I spent the afternoon with was indeed a good place to start. But that's another story