Home > Stories > True Holiday Miracles > The Hatch Holiday 2005
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Moments of truth.
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Bettie , Katie, Matt and Stan
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Deepak with Betty |
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Stan with Manuscript of Mantra
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Betty is manifesting so many amazing, extraordinary and unexpected events so consistently that, if she were Catholic, she would probably be in line for beatification by the Pope. The fact is, she is not Catholic, is not eligible for sainthood and doesn’t even know the Pope; at least not yet.
In May we visited New York City and stayed within two blocks of Rockefeller Center, where Betty’s favorite morning program, the Today Show, is produced at the NBC’s studios. Despite our good intentions -- we attended way too many late night theatrical events -- we could just not arouse ourselves early enough to go join the squealing crowds watching the show through the Studio 1A window.
On Sunday evening, May 22, we celebrated our 23rd Wedding Anniversary at the Park Avenue Café. We were seated in the corner, drinking a glass of champagne, when who should walk in and be seated at the next table but Matt Lauer, the Today Show’s host. He turned out to be as relaxed and gracious in private as he is on air. One thing led to another and Matt (all his close friends call him Matt) invited us to be his guests to watch the show being made. Tuesday morning we met Katie Couric, Ann Curry and Al Roker, and were guided around the set by Matt’s personal assistant. Matt then asked us to sit, in between segments, for a picture with Katie and him. We did so, facing a raucous crowd standing outside in the rain wondering who the hell we were. The whole experience couldn’t have been better if we had produced it ourselves.
Not long after, we got an invitation to attend a special event at Esalen, the alternative educational center at the heart of the "human potential" movement, which is located on the Big Sur Coast. On the program was Betty’s favorite best-selling author, Deepak Chopra, Jean Houston, a protégé of the late Margaret Mead, who is an inspiring teacher of history, philosophy, psychology, anthropology and mythology and our long-time friend and neighbor Jack Canfield of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame. Betty would have been happy just listening to a lecture by any one of them. Instead, Deepak and his wife, Rita, unexpectedly, sat down next to her for dinner. Later Betty was able to engage Jean Houston in a spirited conversation and they discovered that they had mutual friends. Again, we found that these extremely famous people, couldn’t have been more gracious, humorous or interesting.
Can the Pope be far behind?
Meanwhile, back at the farm, it was a dark and stormy night: Stan had a dream, decided to write a novel and did so, finishing his first draft in less than two months. It turned out to be a book about eastern mystical practices which westerners invariably consider to be -- you guessed it -- “miracles.”
May your holidays include a few minor (or even major) miracles of your own.
Stan and Betty
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