First of all, Deep Blessings on this beautiful Mabon day! The Autumnal Equinox is certainly one of my favorite turns of the seasonal wheel. Autumn is like a big long dusky twilight and I love it! I hope your journey into the colder and darker phase of the year is a good one!
Secondly, I never would have thought a visit to my dad's would bring so much intrigue into my life! Here are some of the wonderful things I've managed to do during my visit up here. (BTW, here is
Ferndale, WA, which is near
Bellingham).
1. The first significant moment in my journey was meeting M on the train. We had seating assignments and he was put right next to me. Much to our mutual pleasure, we hit it off right away and have since ventured into quite the passionate romance. We live in different cities (which aren't too far away, really), so that's certainly a challenge. Anyway, it's too early to say what's to become of our little love affair, but I'd like to see it go somewhere good. Here's my take on things such as this (excerpt from earlier today):
"I like the idea of jumping, head on into love and letting it sort itself out. I'm not afraid of love and I'm not afraid of getting hurt. How can I hurt when I allow myself to fully experience the true fervor of my heart? How can I hurt when I walk straight into the fires of passion with no expectations for what lies on the other side? And if it ends in tears? Those tears only feed another part of myself. Like a good pruning, it helps me grow."
2. I realized yesterday, that I'm addicted to love. Yes, love is a drug and there is no cure. Here's the thing, there are a lot of people who've been burned by love and they burned because they forgot what love really is. But me? I say there's no better thing. I want to love people with as much wild abandon as I can muster. The trick is to leave your expectations at the door. What fun it can be to ride that tidal wave of emotions and come crashing back down to Earth. The more you do it, the more you learn to land on your feet. No, I'm not going to try and resist my penchant for roller coaster love, I'm going to embrace it and learn all it's little quirks. I'm going to become to best sort of love junkie, the kind who gives and receives openly, freely, and selflessly.
3. Speaking of love... I have been blessed with ample opportunities to reinforce my love-affair with Nature on this trip. Now, there's a lover who never holds back! When I open myself to the exchange, when I simply experience her force, her fragility, her fierceness, I lose myself to the infinite multiverse. I feel the deepest peace in her embrace. In this short week, I felt the flow of her waters, the hardness of her mountains, the coolness of her breath... I glimpsed her creatures, large and small, listened to her sighs and moans, laid naked against her breast. I love her, my Mother. I love her more than anything else, she is my salvation, my solitude, my inspiration. She is, what is. Yod Heh Vav Heh.
4. Speaking of nature... I've had the pleasure of gathering some of Mama's bountiful harvest during my visit. I picked juicy asian pears, gathered hawthorn berries, crafted plentiful horsetail and partook of fresh tomatoes. My dad and I did some dehydrating experimentation with cantaloupe and the pears. The pears were excellent, the cantaloupe, fairly good. I love picking fresh ripe foods and medicines from the garden and the wild. It's meditative, connecting, grounding, and essentially meaningful.
5. Different Folks: I got to sing karaoke and dance with a bunch of amazing folks who have various mental and physical challenges this week. My dad volunteers for the Max Higbee Center (http://www.maxhigbee.org/), an organization that puts on community-based recreation programs for developmentally disabled people. I can't even express how much fun I had! They were some of the most uninhibited and authentic people I've ever met. They're witty, sweet, and enthusiastic. I couldn't wipe the giant grin off of my face as I danced with Levin, Judy, Darrin, and Paul, amongst others. It's so refreshing to be around people who aren't so locked into the sort of daily grind that us "normal" folks get up to. I'm deeply grateful for having had this opportunity to share time with such beautiful new friends!
6. I worked on a small promo video for the Screamie Sagebush Burlesque Revival with my dad. It's not done yet, but it's pretty great, considering, I didn't put a whole lot of planning into it. Anyway, I plan on producing a variety show featuring my alter ego, Screamie. The intent of the show is multifaceted, however, I'd say the core intention is to encourage self-love and personal authenticity, through humor, beauty, celebration, ceremony, and social-commentary. I'm making the video in order to promote the idea to venues who might be willing to host the show. I'll probably put it on YouTube when it's done and link it on here.... so keep your eyes open!
