Bobbie Chalou

Hi Jack ~ That was an interesting response from you. It's always good to have a view of how others perceive our actions. I guess that everyone sees us in different lights, eh? Maybe, just maybe... and you could be right about this... I will have to give it more thought... maybe some people who know me in my everyday life would have thought there was something different about me if they could have watched me, like you, in Montreal. They might have wondered where my masks of seriousness, responsibility, and reservation had got to. You're absolutely right; I did feel like a free spirit, and it was very easy for me to move about the crowd, extend my hand, and introduce myself. I truly was very happy to be there and to meet all of you, and that feeling alone gave me a certain freedom that I don't have
every day at home. Maybe it's because I have so many responsibilities and so many balls in the air that I don't feel I can truly relax.

Maybe we all felt like free spirits in Montreal, and that's why everyone was so amazed with the energy we generated. I can only compare it to one other time (era) in my life, and that was during my hippie days. Just like in Montreal, (meaning all of you) everyone I hung out with in the mid 60's to mid 70's was resonating to the same vibration. Back then, our common ground was "peace brother", whether or not we could acquire an ounce, ($15.00 back then, by the way!) and free love. We were too young and too ignorant then to realize or appreciate the uniqueness of the times... we just thought it would always be that way.

I didn't wear a mask in those days, either, at least not when I was with my friends... it really wasn't necessary. I have thought about those years so many times, and I have always thought.... "There will _never_ be another time like that." But I felt something like that again a couple of weekends ago in Montreal. Probably that's why I was able to take off the masks that I have to wear in my every day life, the same kind of masks that we all have to wear at some time or rather, and just be.

Bobbie Chalou