Wandering Spirit

Towering Redwoods that I am camped beneath….

Majestic.  Stately.

Reaching out your arms of protection.

Shielding me from sight and light.

Hovering.  Waiting.  Encompassing.

Comforting me with your color.

Relaxing me with your fragrance.

The fairies must dance in your branches in the starlight,

Celebrating you.  Your sanctity.  Your beauty.

Your spirit is all strength and peace,

And as I brush against your branches I understand just a tiny bit of what you know…

About earth and sky and…..being.

For just a sweet second I see your majestic view,

And know the earth mother as she was meant to be known….

Glimpse father sky in his glory.

What secrets have you learned about the stars and the moon

As you commune with them in the darkness?

Hugging you in the silence I feel your pulse….your breath….

Your Joy to be alive.

Your life is sacred.

My life is sacred.

All life is sacred.

MW

So I wrote what I would post in my journal day by day, and I rewrote it last night for the blog and lost it out in the starry heavens somewhere when I tried to post it.  I won’t rewrite it again, just give you the nutshell version…which might be better anyway.  🙂

Monday I spent the night at a COE park at Black Butte Lake, 15 miles west of Orland CA.  The sunrise picture from the last post was taken the following morning. 

High points from that camp:  A visit from friends Sophia, Michelle, and their little guy Oliver….and I went swimming with Joy and Shiloh, first time ever.

Tuesday I went on to Bushytail Campground in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.  Stayed there two nights without even a peep on internet or phone service.  

High points from Bushytail:  The Quiet.  In the mountains in the woods, only one other campsite being used and there was just The Sound Of Silence.  The other high point was that we did NOT see a bear!

Leaving Bushytail I drove about 100 miles in the mountains, before I reached Hwy 101.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, it was BEAUTIFUL and we had perfect weather but when I finally arrived in Klamath at Mystic Forest RV Park, I continued to sway and weave until I fell asleep.  Or wait, maybe that was from the Margarita I made:

I’m here in the Big Trees for 3 nights and besides seeing the beauty of the Redwoods and the coast, I’d like to work on getting organized so I can find things!  Also, I bought a large bunch of organic kale from a guy at a road stand down the road….he went out and picked it fresh when I asked if he had any!  Today I’m going to use it, because it’s just too much to fit into my fridge!  :-)))

I was trying to insert pictures into the post I just wrote that covered the past few days, as I was in the mountains without internet….and I think I just lost the whole thing!  I’ll try again tomorrow, just too tired to try again now.

 Sunrise at Black Butte Lake.

I did it!  I started my journey and made it to my first camp.  I’m looking at this gigantic August moon that I’ve been dreaming of for awhile now. It’s a good beginning. 

The he day started out with rushing, quite a bit of anxiety, throwing last minute things where ever there was a space, and only getting down half a cup of coffee.  A friend helped me make sure all the hooking up was done correctly, and finally I was off. It feels quite different driving the rig when it’s fully loaded…and I do mean “fully”!  

I arrived safely at dear friends Laura and Joel’s house, where the dogs got to go for a walk, Joel worked on a couple of issues for me, including the “Joel Pole” which I’ll explain soon. Laura served a beautiful vegan lunch and routed me through the worst of my drive.  They gifted me with some lovely wine (which I’m enjoying some of right now), and then I was off to make my way through the maze of freeways and traffic that would take me around Oakland and up to Winters, where I landed safely. 

When I arrived I wanted to make sure that Joy and Shiloh  were happy so they ended up taking a swim and watching ducks.  That, along with a good roll in the dirt ( while still wet), and they are now happy campers!   

And for me… Looking at that beautiful moon and realizing that this is all really happening…

That’s making me a very happy camper tonight. 🙂

A long time ago….I don’t even remember when, I wrote that above line on my laptop calendar.  Tonight I can’t sleep so when I opened up my laptop awhile ago, that little reminder popped up.  

I do need reminders about many things, but leaving today isn’t one of them!  :-)))

I’m very excited and my thoughts are just flying off in all directions.  I need to get calm, and bring my thoughts into some semblance of order….you know….get it together.  Writing can be almost a meditation for me so, here I am.  

I’ll keep it short though, because I really do need to get some sleep.  Saturday was another long day of making difficult decisions about what to keep and what should go where.  In the end, I don’t remember where I put things!  I can imagine there will be a lot of searching, rearranging and reorganizing  in the next few weeks…umm….months.  And more downsizing.  I’m very into this downsizing, but apparently I haven’t done enough of it!

To add to the confusion today, my phone has been malfunctioning, so I decided I had to buy a new one before I set off.  Having a working phone is pretty important for me at this point.  I’m an Apple girl and it’s not like I can just walk in and purchase a phone and walk out.  The phone has to be ‘set up’ and I definitely needed help doing that so I spent some time hanging out while it uploaded and downloaded and did whatever else it needed to do to be a happy, healthy phone.  My friend Anne and her daughter Cecelia were there supporting me in that venture and later she got the blue tooth working with my truck so I have ‘hands free’ calling.  Thank you Anne and CeCe!

Through the rest of the day friends Jo and then Nellie and Pablo visited and also my son Jason.  He helped me out by taking a few more items to storage for me. Between and after visits I continued to load and rearrange the truck (Joy Ride…JR) and the trailer (Wandering Spirit….WS), until about 8pm when I pretty much collapsed and did actually sleep until midnight.  Now, hopefully I can get another hour or two of snoozing in before coffee time.  Good night! 🙂

This is Friday evening as I write.  In 48 hours I should be relaxing in my first camping spot!

Oh what a day it’s been.  I backed the truck up to my front door and started loading this morning.  Just the ‘necessities’ right?  Then why did it take me ALL DAY to do it and why is the back of my truck full to overflowing?  How willI I ever find anything, ever again?  What am I going to do with all those extra cloths?  How many tee shirts can one person wear?  Why do I have 15 bags of dog treats?  

Oh my goodness…there are no answers to these mysteries…I’m just rambling.  I suppose as time goes on it will all work itself out.  I’ll donate some of the tee shirts and the dog treats will eventually be eaten.  (by the dogs).  I’ll discover that I really don’t need two brooms, 7 jackets, 6 pair of jeans, and 12 cartons of soy milk.  Thankfully some friends stopped by for a visit throughout the day…Tess and Terese, Jo and then Phil.  That gave me a chance to catch my breath and have a few laughs.  

Over the past week I had 4 Retirement/Good-Bye parties.  Each one was precious in it’s own way.  The Grande Finale was given by the girls I work with.  Excuse me….workED with 🙂 ….the best nurses you could ever hope to meet up with if you are going to have a baby.  Besides being great nurses and knowing their stuff, they are kind, caring, generous, creative and sweet friends.  I’ve been so honored to work with them over the past 17 years….hope some of their attributes rubbed off on me!

Had a warm and loving gathering with some friends I met through The VegHeads of Monterey Bay. That is a group I joined when I went vegan a few years back, and was looking for like minded folks.  I’ve received so much help and guidance from these people, and in return, I’ve been able to pay it forward a little bit.  

A friend here where I live arranged a little party with neighbors….some of which I’ve known for many years.  We shared laughs and memories….

Last but not least….you may not know (but you’re about to find out:-),  I’m an ‘out of control’ Rolling Stones fan, and yes, there’s a gathering place for the likes of us, too.  I’ve belonged to an internet group called “Undercover”, with Stones fans from around the world, since about 1996.  Some of the local folks got together and wished me Bon Voyage to the tune of non stop Stones music and we had a vegan birthday cake for Mick Jagger’s 71st birthday….wow.  (He’s not getting older, he’s getting better! 🙂

SO….the parties are passed (but will never be forgotten)….the packing is almost done, and Sunday Joy, Shiloh and I will be on our way!  

…..and I’m outta here!

SOOOOO much to do before the lift off though!  It’s all good, but it’s a LOT.  

**  There are some parties. 🙂

**A truck servicing appointment

**A vet appointment

**Friends coming tomorrow to spend the night and hopefully get the internet antenna situated.

**Wandering Spirit’s sound system ‘got broken’..a-hem…, and I need to get that fixed.

**Other last minute checks on WS.

**Packing

**Packing

**Packing and more packing

I won’t know what I don’t have room for until the last minute, and then I’ll have to deal with whatever is left over.  

**Review the whole CD “Casita Travel Trailer…A-Z Owner’s Guide”.

**Grab the furry ones, hook up, and take off on August 10.  

Plus a dozen or two other details.  But I’m up for it!  I’m SO up for it!  🙂

Yesterday was the last day I will punch a clock. I feel like I’m dreaming.  It’s been about 17,520 days since I started working (give or take 100), and this was the last one. The last day. That’s about 48 years.  

The past 17 years working at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, I have been blessed to be associated with the most wonderful women you can imagine.The best nurses and supporting staff, all in all, a TEAM of health care workers that can knock your socks off.  AND, help birth your baby.

It was the last day of an era,  and  now August 1, 2014 is the first day of the rest of my life.  

I think (as always)  the thing to do is to make each day count and to live each one with peace and joy and love in my heart.

First, ‘to live each one’….one day at a time….one hour at a time, with gratitude.

Next, ‘with peace’….that would be inner, outer, spiritual, world….you name it.  Walk in peace upon the earth mother.

‘and joy’….a joyful heart is like good medicine.

‘and love in my heart’….love for ALL beings, Great Spirit, the earth, air and sea.  

“The greatest of these is love”, and the Beatles said the same thing in different words:

“All we need is love….love is all we need.”

ANYWAY…

Onward, with the final 9 days of preparation for departure ahead….

Lets pack and party on!

Wh-Wha-WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Saying good bye.  That’s what I’ll be doing over the next 3 weeks.  Not that I won’t be coming back this way regularly, because I will, but with so many life changes, I just don’t know when I’ll see who.  So for now, there will be some visits and some parties that will be all about ‘good bye.’

Saying ‘good bye’ is hard.  Saying ‘oh but I’ll be back this way’ makes it not quite as painful.

And then, there is saying good bye to a way of life, to the place that has been my home for many years, to the place I work, to our regular dog walks, familiar grocery stores…all of it.

So it seems that saying good bye is all about letting go, actually.  And letting go is all about moving on, because if it isn’t, one ends up with emptiness.

So the process is, saying good bye, letting go, and moving on to say hello to new adventures.

As we get oldER, all those we have known, the places we have been, and the adventures we have had, become a part of us.  It’s life, and hopefully it offers us depth, wisdom, and experience to continue on in life with grace and peace and joy.

These thoughts go hand in hand with what I’ve felt about aging for a long time, and it’s this:

I’m not at this point, just 65 years old…no…I am at this point all the ages I have ever been.  I’m still the little girl, 5 years old, who loved to play in the sand pile and was scared to go to kindergarten.  I’m still 10, roaming the fields and forests near my home by the lake with my dog at 6am, and watching the sun rise.  I’m still 16, loving the Rolling Stones, and sitting in the 5th row at Cobo Arena in Detroit, at their concert for the first time, with my friends Marie and Diane.  I’m still 21, realizing that marriage wasn’t all it was cracked up to be….and on and on….every year, every age, becoming who I am now….becoming me. A process.

So I totally understand as I set off (three weeks from today!!) on this new life experience, that 

it’s not the destination that is so important, it’s the journey.

The Journey. The process.  Saying hello to each day, waking up and being thankful to be here, where ever ‘here’ is, and making the best of the day….making it count in some special way.  Seeing and appreciating the beauty and the blessings that surround us.  Life is the journey.

Yay Life!  I love you!