We are just over the one month anniversary of our arrival in Oregon. 30 days. That's all it's been. 45 days ago we left Minnesota with a trip plan, a 4x8 trailer loaded with everything we owned, and a vague notion that we were 'moving to Oregon'.
In that time we drove almost 2,000 miles, saw Rushmore and Crazy Horse, visited/drove threw several states we hadn't been in before and nearly visited Seattle (but not quite, heh). We showed up in Oregon with hope for the future and some money in savings to keep us going until we 'got settled'. We started out with sleeping on a friend's couch, then at a dubious extended stay motel in the country, then a motel in Eugene proper, and then back in with our friends. Between then and now we have managed to find a 5 bedroom house to rent with our friends, get our Oregon drivers licenses, get qualified for Oregon based health insurance and so much more.
It is at these moments that I cannot help but believe that we as humans are capable to some degree of manifestation. It feels like magick that we have managed to get so far so quickly. Beyond that, it feels as though everything happens for a reason, that everything that has happened before has helped to lead up to this moment.
Staying with my parents prepared us for the unforeseen but welcome circumstance of co-housing with another family - something that we have been able to transition into with relative grace. Being a part of the API group in Minnesota gave me the heart skills to be gentle with my children, and to lovingly and non-judgmentally interact with other people's children.
My move to Florida and back gave Dean and I solid road trip skills, and an understanding of what is really needed when you are moving across the country. Road tripping with my dear friend Brooke with two one-year-olds taught me good solid Tetris-ing skills (how to pack a car to the brim without leaving any unused space) and how to survive a road trip with a small child.
In short, it just feels like everything is coming together. Everything is going to work out, and we're really going to do this. Now that we've begun, everything is starting to fall into placing, success snowballing. The way is clear.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Patterns, paths
It's funny how things come around and go around. Patterns in our own lives - in everyone's lives. We all have our personal patterns, our karma that must either work out or rehash over and over again.
I've rehashed enough, and I'm ready to move forward, in all things. Our move is a month and a half away - our guess date is Sunday, Marth 15th - and we're ready. Things are coming together in a way that they haven't when we've tried to move before. Ducks are in rows, poop is in groups. People who I have helped are coming out of the woodwork to help me, and that moment is magical. I don't know why it's hard to accept that other people like me, care about me, and want to see me succeed, but it is. I'm trying to learn to accept help and kindness from others without feeling like I should have been able to do it myself. I am one person. I can do no great things, just small ones, joined with others.
Yesterday was my 30th birthday, and Dean had the most beautiful surprise party for me. No one has ever done anything like that before, and he really went all out. Not just him, either.
All the special people in my life too the time to make sure that I didn't know the surprise was coming. They spent their time and money having dinner with me at a spend-y restaurant, and sacrificed kid bedtimes to bestow their love on me. When I pulled off my blind fold, all I could do was cry with joy. No experience could have convinced me more that I am loved, that I am wanted, and that people want to care for me because they want to. No one was obligated to be there. They just came.
Things will be different with that knowledge. Things already are.
Two years ago I had a mental breakdown. I was trying to be a full-time mom to two kids under 4 - including one with a recent epilepsy diagnosis. I was trying to be a full time college student. I was trying to be a full time apprentice. And it was all too much. I was getting up at 4am to drive to class, sitting in class for 8 hours, and then driving home in the dark with no cell phone reception, often barely awake and arriving at 9pm or later, with my children already in bed. It was hellish. It was horrible. And it all came down around me like a cave collapsing. I was sick in body, and I was sick emotionally, physically. psychically. In every way that one can be sick, I was. I curled into a ball and cried, and then when I stopped crying, I turned away. I gave away all my books, my instruments, my tools-of-the-trade. I forgot that I knew anything about birth, forgot, even, that I loved it.
I didn't know until about a week ago, or I suppose I just didn't allow myself to see, that everyone around me saw what had happened. I had felt so helplessly alone. Those around me saw and understood, with no judgement what had happened. I'm sure they even wanted to help, but I couldn't see their hands reaching out in the dark. They watched me crumble, and they watched me push everyone away. Me. Watched me push everything away and retreat into that dark space you go when you have no energy left to even feed or care for yourself.
I crawled out of that cave, slowly but surely. I moved forward with my life, and now I'm ready. I'm at the very edge of the clearing, and if I look back I can see that cave. In front of me, though, is the main road. The forked detour I took that day two years ago. Finally I'm open to it again, and the way is open to me.
I've broken a pattern, so finally I can move forward. The pattern started when I left Florida. I left a lot behind. My hopes of every finishing my midwifery training, my sewing machine and guitar, and much more. And to be honest, I didn't leave with much grace. I couldn't. I was already walking the path to my cave.
For my 30th birthday, Dean got me a guitar. Not because I'm a musician, or because I play constantly, but because there was a completeness to the gift. After two years of purposely shutting out birthwork, all my books came back to me, all at once. The lightness and joy I felt in that moment was overwhelming. There was a completeness to the return. A friend had held onto them for me, fro two years. I didn't do it on my own. I had much help. I turned my car on the other morning and the radio was on. The first word? Midwife. A similar 'omen-ing' is happening with Oregon.
Finally I'm not battling through the path, running headlong down it, forcing my way straight when I see bends and turns. I am following, open to what comes. I am not alone, but rather surrounded with companions, on divergent, yet connected paths. And I am content. Content to explore the path at my own pace, in my own way, in my own time. It is my way to walk, and I am finally content to do just that.
I've rehashed enough, and I'm ready to move forward, in all things. Our move is a month and a half away - our guess date is Sunday, Marth 15th - and we're ready. Things are coming together in a way that they haven't when we've tried to move before. Ducks are in rows, poop is in groups. People who I have helped are coming out of the woodwork to help me, and that moment is magical. I don't know why it's hard to accept that other people like me, care about me, and want to see me succeed, but it is. I'm trying to learn to accept help and kindness from others without feeling like I should have been able to do it myself. I am one person. I can do no great things, just small ones, joined with others.
Yesterday was my 30th birthday, and Dean had the most beautiful surprise party for me. No one has ever done anything like that before, and he really went all out. Not just him, either.
All the special people in my life too the time to make sure that I didn't know the surprise was coming. They spent their time and money having dinner with me at a spend-y restaurant, and sacrificed kid bedtimes to bestow their love on me. When I pulled off my blind fold, all I could do was cry with joy. No experience could have convinced me more that I am loved, that I am wanted, and that people want to care for me because they want to. No one was obligated to be there. They just came.
Things will be different with that knowledge. Things already are.
Two years ago I had a mental breakdown. I was trying to be a full-time mom to two kids under 4 - including one with a recent epilepsy diagnosis. I was trying to be a full time college student. I was trying to be a full time apprentice. And it was all too much. I was getting up at 4am to drive to class, sitting in class for 8 hours, and then driving home in the dark with no cell phone reception, often barely awake and arriving at 9pm or later, with my children already in bed. It was hellish. It was horrible. And it all came down around me like a cave collapsing. I was sick in body, and I was sick emotionally, physically. psychically. In every way that one can be sick, I was. I curled into a ball and cried, and then when I stopped crying, I turned away. I gave away all my books, my instruments, my tools-of-the-trade. I forgot that I knew anything about birth, forgot, even, that I loved it.
I didn't know until about a week ago, or I suppose I just didn't allow myself to see, that everyone around me saw what had happened. I had felt so helplessly alone. Those around me saw and understood, with no judgement what had happened. I'm sure they even wanted to help, but I couldn't see their hands reaching out in the dark. They watched me crumble, and they watched me push everyone away. Me. Watched me push everything away and retreat into that dark space you go when you have no energy left to even feed or care for yourself.
I crawled out of that cave, slowly but surely. I moved forward with my life, and now I'm ready. I'm at the very edge of the clearing, and if I look back I can see that cave. In front of me, though, is the main road. The forked detour I took that day two years ago. Finally I'm open to it again, and the way is open to me.
I've broken a pattern, so finally I can move forward. The pattern started when I left Florida. I left a lot behind. My hopes of every finishing my midwifery training, my sewing machine and guitar, and much more. And to be honest, I didn't leave with much grace. I couldn't. I was already walking the path to my cave.
For my 30th birthday, Dean got me a guitar. Not because I'm a musician, or because I play constantly, but because there was a completeness to the gift. After two years of purposely shutting out birthwork, all my books came back to me, all at once. The lightness and joy I felt in that moment was overwhelming. There was a completeness to the return. A friend had held onto them for me, fro two years. I didn't do it on my own. I had much help. I turned my car on the other morning and the radio was on. The first word? Midwife. A similar 'omen-ing' is happening with Oregon.
Finally I'm not battling through the path, running headlong down it, forcing my way straight when I see bends and turns. I am following, open to what comes. I am not alone, but rather surrounded with companions, on divergent, yet connected paths. And I am content. Content to explore the path at my own pace, in my own way, in my own time. It is my way to walk, and I am finally content to do just that.
Thursday, January 1, 2015
How time flies!
Wow. A whole year. A whole year gone. Not wasted, mind you, but passed by quicker than I could have imagined.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Photo Time: POTD #1 (2014)
Today marks a new year - 2014! With it comes a commitment to more consistent content here, and to improving the quality (and quantity, of course) of my POTD images.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Oppertunity
My son is taking gymnastics through our local community education, and we have made the choice to walk to and from class every week. It's about a mile from home, so it's an easy walk through the city. Every time we start out, we notice how much trash is on the lawns of the houses we pass (there are no sidewalks on most of our route).
Today while Khai was in class, I noticed that one of the tables provided for parents to wait at was covered in plastic bags, snack wrappers and drink bottles. Since this was the last unoccupied table, I supposed that someone would be right back, so I sat on the floor.
By the end of class it was clear that these snacks were abandoned, and that no one was going to come and pick them up. So. Khai and took the bottles to the recycle bin (not more than 20 feet from the tables), and set everything but the plastic bag in the trash.
I have never seen a person so enthusiastic to pick up garbage. Every time he saw a peice, he shouted "I spy trash!" and ran to pick it up. It gave us a lot of chances to talk. Why is the trash here? Where should it go? What can we leave, and what do we need to pick up (for the record, we can leave dead mice, corn cobs and dandelion stems)? It was an opportunity for me as a parent to not only teach him about having respect for the earth and those around us, but also looking at what we use, and why we might choose something different.
When we got home I was really surprised how much trash (and recyclables) we had collected on our not-even-one-mile walk. It made me reflect on all the times that I watched my grandmother throw trash out of the car door when I was a child, and how sometimes I don't go after the scraps of paper, or the renegade bottle if they fall out of my car when I get out. Someone has to clean that trash up, and if not someone, then something. Some poor bird or squirrel is going to eat that wrapper or bottle cap, and probably die. And why did I need that soda anyway? Where was my reusable water bottle?
It was an opportunity for me to reassess where I am on my green journey. I've recently replaced my reusable utensil set (my fork broke after several years), and I have re-upped my commitment to using my reusable water bottle/thermos when I need water, coffee, tea, or whatever.
Hopefully when my children are older, they will decide to make these commitments too.
Today while Khai was in class, I noticed that one of the tables provided for parents to wait at was covered in plastic bags, snack wrappers and drink bottles. Since this was the last unoccupied table, I supposed that someone would be right back, so I sat on the floor.
By the end of class it was clear that these snacks were abandoned, and that no one was going to come and pick them up. So. Khai and took the bottles to the recycle bin (not more than 20 feet from the tables), and set everything but the plastic bag in the trash.
I have never seen a person so enthusiastic to pick up garbage. Every time he saw a peice, he shouted "I spy trash!" and ran to pick it up. It gave us a lot of chances to talk. Why is the trash here? Where should it go? What can we leave, and what do we need to pick up (for the record, we can leave dead mice, corn cobs and dandelion stems)? It was an opportunity for me as a parent to not only teach him about having respect for the earth and those around us, but also looking at what we use, and why we might choose something different.
 | |
| So much trash! |
It was an opportunity for me to reassess where I am on my green journey. I've recently replaced my reusable utensil set (my fork broke after several years), and I have re-upped my commitment to using my reusable water bottle/thermos when I need water, coffee, tea, or whatever.
Hopefully when my children are older, they will decide to make these commitments too.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
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