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Published: July 10th 2011
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It is quiet today, here. I crack the glass sliding door, pull the screen closed. The sun room dances with light, lazy cats, and one tarantula. I've never house sat for a tarantula. It seems like they are pretty simple creatures to care for, one water dish and a hand full of crickets. The crickets were here when I arrived, so my job is to watch the water dish, and the movement of the tarantula, if I want. There he goes...one side of the aquarium to the other. This crawling guy was rescued from the grapes of a local grocery store, he traveled all the way from Chile. I guess we have a lot in common then, both being travelers and such. I hope to get to know him a bit more over the week. The cats are a little more lively than the crawler, but it is an Indiana summer and the humid days are beginning to set in. The linoleum floor is white and cool, that's where I'd be if I were a hairy cat. Buddy, the yellow dog, agrees.
Everyone is sleeping but me, and the tarantula.
I've decided to make the most out of the
time and space I've carved out this summer. The timing felt right for my system to slow down from the task world and take a full restorative journey. I've noticed that this is an important part of my nature, this is the part of me that thrives on the feast of re-creation...willingly and consicously going into the change, awake. My adventures have gotten more intentional over the past years. Some have been outward adventures, and some totally inner space adventures. Pairing the two together, in harmony, has become my latest interest.
The timing of this "urge" happens to co-incide with my 30th year. I have only recently noticed that the time I had "planned" to be away is sychronistically, 30 days. Seems auspicious...and harmonious...I'll take that as a good sign. I cherish this aspect of travel - wathcing myself willingly open up to be impressed by the signs of the time. I've noticed that when I travel, I am open to signals with heightened awareness. Venturing into unknown territory teaches me what I know by heart...and feeds my sense of wonder and curiousity. I rejoice being open to re-mystification.
Preparing for this journey has taken some time, a
good deal of patience, and forsight. I've learned enough, through trial and error, to inform the type of travel and journeying that suits my best interest. And with this knowing, the delight of precision sets in. It feels good to know myself well enough to know what works for me during an adventure. An important part is intentionality mixed with windows of free exploration. Somewhere in my twenties on the 14th day in the southwest desert with no particular agenda, I recognized that it would have been good to have more of an aim on my travel than to do it, "just because." Thankfully, I had more than just the desert wind to tell this to when a friend arrived to meet me in Phoenix. Wide-eyed and mind-blown I'm sure it came out like, "woah...so...this has been a big thing...right......i am glad you are real..." I'll have to verify this with her though.
Second, a healthy mix between people time and solo adventure is good. This allows the recreation to feel like recreation rather than a whirlwind of too much or too little stimulation. This is subtle. On my last "mega-adventure", I traveled through Germany and Egypt to learn
"in flesh" my family heritage. This trip was informationallly abundant with visiting from one corner of Eurpoe right on into Cairo. Sadly, the experience would have been more beneficial to my system had I had some more personal space to integrate all that I was learning.
Last and maybe the most foundational are the body dynamics of sleep, temperature, nutrition, and movement. This must be maintained to allow impressions to fully digest in the body without disease. It is a shame that much of my traveling before my late twenties was done in a way that prevented me from fully experiencing the journey. I came to love the traveling life through less than hospitible conditions as a touring musician, and prior to that as a traveling soccer player, and prior to that as a competitive figure skater. All of these traveling lifetyles were out of balance. It was too many young people in one vehicle, or too little space to sleep, or not enough right food to eat, or too much physical exertion with not enough repose time. While the learning curve was an abrupt edge through my formative years, it was illuminating and makes up a good deal of what I consider now to be my "road courage."
"Road Courage" and wisdom combined, I set off for this journey. I figure, I must have gained a little "grist for the mill" to suit me well for this trip. I have two weeks before my first plane into Medford, Oregon, a place I now consider a gateway town to one of my heart homes - Ashland, Oregon. In the meantime, this week I'm staying out in Brown County in the lovely quarters of a like-hearted companion visiting and sharing some repose time with creatures: cats, dog, tarantula, crickets and nature.
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