Get off the rock.... to see the rock

This is a phrase that my friend, Mary taught me years ago. It is so true and something that we all benefit from doing, from time to time.

It's the contrast and comparison that makes life sweeter. If we didn't have that changed perspective, we can't help but take things for granted.

As most of you know, we delayed

our departure in New Orleans by

two days, because our next

campground was due to get 4" of

rain in one very short afternoon.

Thanks to google, we learned that

it was not on hardscape with good drainage like our current campground,

so we opted to hang back.

Two days later, we forged ahead to our new campground in Lake Charles, LA. Upon arrival we laughed so hard we cried. The office was closed, it looked to be abandoned. No one else was camping there. Adjacent to this campground was a cargo container, teetering on the edge of the lot next door, just waiting to tumble into the gully below.

We still had stormy weather, more than we anticipated but the actual rainfall was manageable. There was however, plenty of lightening and thunder. What was unnerving was the absence of cement buildings that we usually find with restrooms and laundry facilities. My friend Beth told me to go a cement building if the threat of tornadoes nears. As Doug says, 'we were fine' and we were. Needless to say, I was ready to move on.

So, the following day we called my cousin Neil to see if he would be able to push our upcoming camping trip near Houston up a couple of days. We definitely didn't want to stay at this campground in Lake Charles any longer, as planned. Plus we were beginning to entertain the idea of just driving home, instead of me flying into San Diego for Zeina's first birthday. That would take every bit of the time we had left, so a decision was to be made.

We could hear the relief in Neil's voice because as much as we all wanted to hang out, it just wasn't unfolding with ease. He was knee deep with work and we were like a horse nearing their stable. It wasn't an easy decision, for he's not only our cousin, he's a dear friend. But this did give us more time to travel, which meant less miles per day. So, with heavy hearts, we took a rain check and began to plot our course home.

The following day, we had a terrible day of driving due to construction on highway 10. It took us 2.5 hours to travel 10 miles and our overall it took us 10 hours to go 300 miles. We love Texas and it's people, however this Friendly Corner wasn't feeling so great, as we were rerouted onto a one lane frontage road from a major highway.

The good news is we collected all 31 stickers by now and were returning through states that we had already been. It is a major sign of growth that I was able to let go of missing Arkansas on this trip.

We had no idea as we passed by it's NW corner, as we headed to Missouri from Oklahoma, that this was our chance! We were in the middle of a 16 day stretch of driving daily to get to Maine.

Only upon reflection in South Carolina, did we realize it's not really that far south and would be over 700 miles to visit Arkansas from New Orleans. I even figured out that we could take a train from New Orleans to Memphis, TN. Doug said, we need to be in Arkansas and I replied, that's where the Lyft comes in! He groaned and I let it go. Not immediately, but I let go.

We finally arrived at the KOA in San Antonio. It was like arriving on a movie set of the Mickey Mouse Club. We were greeted with a smile, they had a shiny office full of goodies to buy, including a custom pizza delivered to our campsite at a time of our choice.

I cried!

We continued to drive daily until we arrived into our home campground at the bay in San Diego, the end of January. Ironically, on and off - our first week home, we experienced some of the worst weather in our entire 4.5 month trip, right here in America's Finest City!

We gathered on Sunday to

celebrate Zeina's birthday.

It was a wonderful day of

love and joy, that only a

one year old as

guest of honor

can bring.

And no,

she didn't get a

356 Porsche for her

first birthday!

My mom was able to join us,

representing the other end of

life, as she had just turned

90 in December. We had the full spectrum of life and that brings

me to my closing thought.

I have come to believe that 'Good Vibes Only' and 'No Bad Days' is not something that I embrace. It is the contrast and comparison that makes the sweet nectar of life, that much sweeter. Without darkness, we can't appreciate the light. Without challenges we don't get the full value of our good patches. It is the Yin/Yang of life that makes life so wonderful.

If we hadn't have had such a terrible night stay in Lake Charles, I wouldn't have had tears of joy in San Antonio. If we hadn't of gotten off of our rock in San Diego, then we wouldn't have been able to look back to see how much we treasure our life as we know it there.

The most dramatic example of this was taught during my YTT (Yoga Teacher Training) 200 hour course. We met 4 times a week in a small group of 5 students and 2 teachers. We covered a lot of ground and formed friendships that will last a lifetime.

Before leaving class one night, our teacher Karina said 'when you come to class next time, Jen is going to lead you through a 5 hour class about death. From the moment you arrive to the moment you leave, the entire class will be about dying'.

As we arrived, the tone was undeniably somber. We proceeded to roll out our yoga mats and sat down on the deck. Jen arrived and said with zero inflection in her voice, 'these next five hours will take you through your own personal death. Please lean into this and see what you can get out of it. Let us begin by taking the last yoga class that you are still strong enough to take.'

Our flow was woven with the overtones of what it would be like to know that this would be our last time on our mats. Our bodies were not the same and our waining strength and vitality was painfully apparent. I soaked up every pose with all of my gratitude for this sacred practice that has changed my life.

Following our flow, Jen continued to lead us through various stages of this practice, that led up to the final event. They were all steeped from the viewpoint of our impermanence and what it would feel like to know that you were on a path that would soon lead you to transitioning.

The most poignant part of the session was at the end, when Jen asked us to take a piece of paper and rip it into 9 parts. Then write down on 3 of them your favorite things. Another 3, your future plans that you haven't done yet but are on your horizon. Lastly your 3 favorite people.

Then, she had us sit knee to knee with a fellow yogi. I sat across from Kat, a wise and wonderful young woman who is a talented writer and avid wanderer. Jen began her narrative as we gazed into our partners eyes.

You come home from the grocery store and as you're putting down your groceries, your doctor's office calls. The results are in and you have...... please put down one of your pieces of paper, by choice.

You begin treatment and it takes a toll on your energy and it's apparent that you need to cut back..... please put another piece of paper down, again by choice.

This continues, at a painstaking pace, for the narrative is detailed and takes on a real life and death reality, all the while all of our focus is deeply connected to our fellow yogi whom we have come to know and love.

We are not only saying goodbye to our own life on earth, we are witnessing our loved one - at the other end of our knees, do the same.

At the end, we are on our death bed with the two pieces of paper that we chose to have still in our hands. Tears are streaming down everyone's faces and the room is beyond quiet. It is real and we are all leaving our lives as we know it.

We ended with an extended moment of meditation in savasana, appropriately means corpse pose in English. Once that guided meditation was final, we rolled over to our sides into a fetal pose and sat up for a closing meditation about what the fetal pose represents, a renewal and to refresh.

We quietly gathered our belongings and walked out of the studio while individually reflecting to ourselves what just transpired.

As I walked on the sidewalk towards my car, the birds sang louder, the flowers were brighter and the depth of my gratitude for life as I know it was deeper than I could have ever imagined it being. My look on life was renewed and this day would stay with me forever.

When we can embrace the contrast of life and death, life becomes all the more sweet.

This was beautifully depicted in one of the last episodes of 'Dead To Me'. Judy who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and arrived at the place of true surrender, after exhausting the hope that the treatments would bring, roller skated down the boardwalk with complete abandon.

They did a wonderful job of depicting the joy that she arrived at, as she roller skated down the boardwalk with such levity and freedom. She was almost flying over the surface of the concrete with not a care in the world. It was really wonderfully done and left me thinking, how can I embrace this message each day as I live. Truly live, with complete abandon.

Yesterday, I gathered with my sailing friends for our weekly jam session that I missed so much. I'm a beginner at both the drums and ukulele. Each time I bring one or the other and enjoy being carried by this amazing group of musicians, that are so kind and patient with ones who are far behind them in skill.

We were playing Brown eyed girl and John who was leading this song got hung up on the part right before the chorus and paused. Unbeknownst to me, I was the only one out of the 12 of us who didn't get the memo and found myself in the middle of a solo, as I belted out -

Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da

all I could see was heads turned as people glanced my way. So, I tapped into this theme of living life out loud and even added

'just like that'

This comes from someone who not that long ago caught myself in a limiting belief. 'I'm not musical, I can't sing, my thing is dancing.' So, once I saw that I was doing this, I began playing my djembe drum that my girls bought me years ago, my ukulele that I bought on Amazon a while back and even decided to sing more, after Linda encouraged me that I can sing.'

If you enjoy singing this would not be a big deal. I, on the other hand, seemingly crushed my self limiting belief of 'I can't sing' all in one moment!

Here's to unleashing your self imposed limits...

Just Like That!

Shari