Okay, it's the West Coast. At *some* point each winter we get 'rains'. But just yesterday, ds and I were marvelling at how GREEN everything in the yard looked as it all glistened in the winter sun, with the snow having finally melted. It was beautiful. Tree branches sparkling with dew. Varied thrushes, black-capped chickadees, stellar jays, hummingbirds at the feeder. It was spring-like... It was trickery, I tell you.
Well, today it's been monsooning. Not just raining, but continuous torrential downpour. Now I'm not complaining, it's just that I'd apparently blocked out the memory of these rains. They are glorious to behold... just so long as you don't have to go out in them! I'd already set my mind on running errands today, so I stubbornly packed us all into the car and off we went, but we got drenched running from the car into stores and back. It was nuts. And fun. Fun to feel alive, to feel the rain splashing on your face, fun to watch the kids splashing in puddles in the parking lots, fun to share in their wonderment at the streams of water forming across the pavement, heading towards the drains, to stand over the drain (in the torrential downpour) and just watch it all streaming in, oblivious to the time - to try and block the water with your rubber boot and divert it around. So much fun! Reminded me of being a kid and delivering newspapers on my bike in the rain - at first it would be an "eww, ick" kind of thing when you were first getting wet, but by the time you were drenched from head to toe, it didn't really matter what speed you went at... so I'd stop and gaze at the stream here and just toodle along at my own pace, in my own world. Ahhh, life, eh. Sighhhhhh.
But now that we're home and I'm feeling SOOOOO grateful to have a house with walls, windows and a functioning roof over my head, my attention is drawn to the overflowing gutters that obviously need unplugging desperately (even though it's now dark). It wouldn't be bothering me, except that they (a) our extension ladder is broken so I don't have a safe way of getting up there, and (b) they appear to be overflowing into my herb garden and eroding the soil a little. But stop. I don't need to go there, do I. Breathing in, I'm filled with gratitude for the fresh rain. Breathing out, I'm letting any worries surrounding it go. Ahhhh that's better. LOL
Today I rowed. It's been 15 days since I last did, and wow, it felt sooooo good to exercise again. I really missed it over the holidays. It was funny because dh and I were having a conversation about how scatter-brained I can be... and I had to defend myself because while he's not here I manage just fine - I row daily, I feel a stronger commitment to raw food, I get the children (& myself) to classes and such on time and manage to run the household quite efficiently (to my way of thinking, anyways; LOL). But then as he was home over the holidays, I had a HECK of a time staying committed to all those things, and I couldn't remember what we had to do each day to save my life. It was quite comical. "Who phoned?" "Geez, I can't remember." "Didn't you just hang up the phone?!" "Well yes, I guess I did. Oh, it was so-and-so. Can't remember why they were calling, though." Okay, not quite THAT bad, but still, my memory was less than sharp the past couple weeks. So now that he's out of town again (dh that is) I have the opportunity to get back into my routine - caring for myself through daily exercise, nutrition and mindfulness. And also spending time examining why it is that I have this pattern of 'falling off the wagon' when he's home. What's THAT all about?! hmmmm, something to think about.
Hmmm... ds just brought me a Lego guy that he built... a "homeless Lego person". Now why, you may ask, would an 8 yr old build a homeless Lego person to add to his Lego city? (And what would a homeless Lego person look like?!) Well, on the radio today while we were driving, there was a news story of a homeless woman who was offered a bed in a shelter one cold night. She declined and stayed on the streets, sleeping with her belongings in a shopping cart and a tarp over her. She lit a candle to stay warm and the tarp (and everything) caught on fire and she died. I turned the radio off and talked about it with ds... what is the solution here - what could've been done - should society force people to go to shelters? (He said no) Are the homeless allowed to bring their worldly possessions and shopping carts inside the shelters right now? (I don't even know) Obviously he's been processing this for the past several hours, unbeknownst to me as he shows no outwardly signs of what he's thinking about, and there you have it... a Lego homeless person. Looks like I'll have to call up a shelter and see if we can drop something off one day and have a visit there - maybe we could make some homemade bread, or cookies, or something to take down there... interesting to see an 8 yr old wrestle with these issues... issues that we as a society haven't resolved at all.
I guess that's all for now.
Namaste
~n~
2 comments:
That's definitely a tough issue. Even I don't know how to feel about the homeless all the time, and I certainly don't always know how to help them. I'm glad you discussed it with him, instead of just saying, "Oh, that's sad" and moving on. Not all parents would think to stop and talk about something like that. :)
Interesting; I'd like to know what you discover if you investigate this further..
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