Mercy within Change

A lot can happen while waiting for Baba’s lovers to return to the Center. When the Center first closed for guests, Dean Mendoza was working on Maintenance. At first, his job continued approximately as usual: each building still had to be carefully tended, and work even ramped up as the crew started focusing on projects they couldn’t do when the Center was open.

Then there was another change: a back problem that had been plaguing Dean for years became intolerable, and in the midst of Covid he had to go on a three-month disability leave. When it became clear that maintenance work might always be painful for him, Dean felt at a loss. Then, out of the blue, the Gateway called, noting that he had administrative experience and asking if he’d like to switch to a full-time position with them. “Totally a Baba thing,” Dean nods.

So, like many of us, as the Center started opening back up again, Dean was in a whole new situation. The first assignment he got at the Gateway highlighted that difference. From quiet days painting and woodworking, Dean was asked to call the guests who had been picked in the reservation drawing and tell them that they would get to stay on Center soon after it opened. “I have a little social anxiety,” Dean said with a chuckle, so it was a bit daunting.

But Dean got on the phone, and after years on the Center Staff, he says, “I got to see another side of the Center, to see how grateful people are to be there. Some of the people I got on the phone with, and when I told them they had essentially ‘won the lottery,’ some were screaming for joy, some were laughing, some were crying, you know? And so it really re-established what I felt when I first came to the Center—this sense of beauty and awe and just gratefulness. Because you know, you can really feel it—an atmosphere of love.”

And as people started to arrive, that feeling only grew. He describes “just seeing, witnessing the magic that happens at the Gateway … people come in and I’m the first one they see, and they’re just so happy to be there, and I’m so happy they’re there.”

Dean says it was a privilege to work with the maintenance crew, for whose work he has deep admiration. He also loves his current job. Are there similarities between the two roles? At first, Dean laughs: “They’re basically the exact opposite.” But then, more seriously, he reflects on the deepest of commonalities. “The tender touch that Maintenance puts into the work so that people feel like it’s home, that goes on at the Gateway but it’s more in the interaction rather than the physical part. You can feel it and see it in the buildings, and then when you’re interacting with guests and you’re inviting them on the Center and you’re getting them ready and you’re prepping them and you’re coordinating dates—and then when they arrive—you’re putting that tender love and care into the interaction. So … one is direct, and one is indirect.”

“I wouldn’t have imagined my journey at the Center taking me where I am now,” Dean finishes. “Baba was just … He was really merciful.”