Once in a great while, something happens that is clearly a peak life experience.

Such was the case this morning.

I had the pleasure of sharing my morning coffee with a man who’s considered the “elder statesman” of the Beat Generation, the eminent writer, Herb Gold.

If you know me, you know that I know a little something about the Beats and have read them for years. So this serendipitous experience was like falling into a pot of gold.

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing his take on the beats he knew well: the poet, Allen Ginsberg; the writer Jack Kerouac; and I especially enjoyed his take on Hunter S. Thompson, one of my writing idols. There’s the hype, and then there’s the facts; he clarified a few things that I’d read about HST.

While this experience could have happened at a writers conference in another city, it didn’t. It happened in San Francisco. As my beloved said to me later, on the phone, “Looks like my girl belongs back in the Bay area.”

Sharing a half hour of private time with such a wonderful writer was a privilege. I immediately ordered Herb’s last few books, including his latest, a memoir, pictured above.