Peak Experience X2
Southeast corner of 19th Ave. and Ocean Ave. in San Francisco is a small restaurant, Lucho’s.

Had lunch there last Friday on my way home from eye appointment at Kaiser in San Francisco. Good report on my left eye. My corneal transplant surgery from last October is doing well. My retinal edema has gone away.
I can read the third line down on the eye chart. I’m on a high.
Driving down 19th. Ave., I decided to stop at Lucho’s. Lots of history.
Kelly, the waitress, comes over hands me a menu, “Hi Honey. Can I get you coffee?” “Absolutely. Hey, I like that you call me ‘Honey.’” The coffee comes.
“Thanks. Did you know this place used to be called The Manor?” “Yes, I’d heard that.”
Her smile and warmth washed over me. Riding high from my eye report, I decided to tell her a story. I didn’t give a shit that she might have waitressing jobs to do. Anyway, it was about 45 minutes ahead of the lunch crowd. She had a little time to talk.
“One fine spring morning in 1973, I stopped here for breakfast on my way to my teaching job at SF State. I was working on my PhD dissertation.” She said curiously, “What did you teach?” “Psychology.” She lit up. “I have my Masters in clinical psych from State.” We were off to the races. Now, I really, really didn’t give a shit that she might have other customers.
“I was sitting right here in The Manor reading an article about Carl Jung while having breakfast. My dissertation looked at the relationship between popular music and systems of psychotherapy.” Her eyes brightened. She knowingly nodded, “Wow.”
“Jung’s writings about personality being on an extrovert / introvert continuum hit me like a smack upside the head. I could also put music and therapy on continuums:
Acoustic – Electric; Confrontational – Transcendent.
Sitting here. In this restaurant. In that moment. The skies opened. A golden light engulfed the restaurant. On big white fluffy clouds, a band of angels sang. Clearly, a peak experience. (As I recall, they sang Johnny B. Good.)
I worked on that model over the next few weeks, finally presenting it to my dissertation advisor at Saybrook University, Thomas Hanna,

Tom got a faraway look. He said, ‘This is big.’ This model was a major takeaway for me from the three years of research I did on this project.”
She looked at me with a smile. I was vibrating.
Last Saturday, the Wall Street Journal had a three-page article by Bill Gates, “I coded while I hiked as a teenager. Was I on the spectrum? Probably.”
He quoted a mathematician, Jordan Ellenberg, “Knowing mathematics is like wearing a pair of X-ray glasses that reveal hidden structures underneath the messy and chaotic surface of the world.” He also quoted Richard Feynman, “The pleasure of finding things out. This is the gold.”
As Gates put it, “Feynman articulates so well the feeling that took root in me as a kid, when I started building mental models that helped me visualize how the pieces of the world fit together.”
Now, my model of how music and therapy work is not the Pythagorean theorem or the laws of thermodynamics…but…but… it does show how part of the world works. It gave me, as Ellenberg calls it “X-ray glasses.” I also learned the art of model building. Invaluable years later as I developed the models used in Speaking Up: Surviving Executive Presentations. I also had the thrill of “finding things out.”
I gave her my card as I charged into my breakfast tacos. She came over later, “I’ve been reading about you on the Internet.” Customers were now streaming in for lunch. She was busy taking orders. I caught her eye as I left, “Hey Kelly, e-mail me.”
My meeting with this wonderful person who willingly listened to an old man recount his story from 52 years ago made my day. As I walked to my car, the sun warmed my shoulders. I watched three teenage girls with their torn jeans giggling and sharing secrets. I walked to the flower shop and bought bamboo shoots.
But honestly, there were no angels singing. A second peak experience? Maybe.
Great story. I think I’ll try Lucho’s.
How lovely, Rick. What a great way to start my week! Such a great story about connecting and sharing. Love you
What a fine, personal, warm story, Rick. I think you took home with you a valuable piece of your own and well deserved rainbow. Thank you!
Great story Rick as always. We should have a monthly Story Time by Rick. I will definitely attend. Pick your favorite watering hole.
Hi Rick!
One of the cool things about you is that you look for peak experiences- and often find them! Keep looking!
RIck,
A good story. I can just visualize the scene.