Encounters since Last Time

Happy spring everyone! We had what the locals call the “usual heat wave” here, which has now dissipated back into cooler weather. Did not make the mistake of putting any of my wood away early this year as I did when I was new to the area last season; I’m still lighting a small evening fire when I get home from work to take the chill from the corners of this vast house.

I’ve taken a bit of a break from technology lately, and have been spending my free hours in conversations with like-minded people, and between the folds of books. I’ve also been trying to keep up daily journaling, checking in with the self, figuring out the direction to take next by looking deeply at where I stand and at where I have come from.

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but have been reading a lot of Dr. Gabour Mate’s work, and was especially intrigued by his book When the Body Says No, which is, in a very simplistic rendering, about how people who take on too much of the stresses of life can come down with illness and disease. I think I saw a lot of myself in its pages, and related it to my own bouts of illness. It made me consider how much of an impact our mind truly has on our physiological health, a connection that is often neglected in the science of medicine. We sometimes forget that our body is an integrated system that functions as a whole unit, just as we sometimes forget that the world is more complex than the parceled subjects of school allow.

Have had a couple of packed weekends since my last update. Was at my best friend’s wedding this weekend down in the city. He’s a guy, and I was his best WOman. Have never been in a bridal party before, and that aspect was very fun. He had four other groomsmen, which included his two brothers, a childhood friend I too have known since kindergarten, and one of my long-time ex boyfriends from my early twenties who has remained a close friend. It was a beautiful ceremony, casual and tasteful, and my speech was a complete hit. I think this is partly due to all our friends in the crowd who were laughing at all the right spots, and thanks to my sister and mother for their invaluable input. Public speaking. Certainly a stress-producing activity!

I’m currently reading a book called Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway! by the late Susan Jeffers, which relates a lot to the whole public speaking thing. It’s also a very positive addition to my reading list, as I am about to embark on some big changes in my life, yet again. I’m mentally preparing myself to lift my roots from this place, and it feels like the right thing for me to be doing. I long for an alternative lifestyle that I haven’t completely found yet. I’m considering the other options for someone with their teaching degree—options not necessarily within the government-run education system—but also other options entirely. I have a strong faith in my ability to find a job too, which is helpful when considering a bout of unemployment.

And the writing. Always the writing knocking on the door of my conscious mind.

A couple of weekends ago I went on a nice ski tour hike with my close friend who had moved away this winter to work. He was back for a couple of weeks to visit, and it was nice to have someone whose main focus in the backcountry was skiing rather than sledding. I know I will always have friends here in the valley, and this is a comforting thought while prepping my heart to fly elsewhere.

Instead of rushing back to the city for Easter, I went to a party in the Yalakom valley, which is an absolutely amazing community about an hour towards Lillooet. It was started as a commune in the 70s and is now in its third generation, and parties are filled with people of all ages, fantastic cooking, and always wonderfully eclectic and enlightening conversation. This is the type of community I seek to know more about, and I have a feeling that B.C. hosts many alternative communities like this if I take the time to find them. And many alternatively-run education programs.

I also had an astrological reading by someone who came highly recommended by close friends of mine who believe strongly in our mystical connection with the universe. Yeah, yeah, I’m sure some of you are rolling your eyes as you read this, if you’re still with me, but the more I connect with nature and with myself, the more mystical I am becoming. As far as I am concerned, what we get over the internet about our sign is such a thin sliver of the dynamically complex alignment of the planets, the sun and the moon at our birth. It is a blanket summary of only the sign under which we were born, and tells us nothing of the other planetary interactions that integrate to form a small part of who we are.

It was totally fascinating, and I am still integrating the information. The astrologer knew things about me that  were uncanny, and has a background in Jungian psychology, which has always been of interest to me. It has sure spurred me to take my own life slowly, to watch the unfolding that is occurring within me, and to trust my own intuition rather than societal and familiar expectations, which are at times like a stifling blanket across the bed of my decisions.

I am starting to realize that it really is my life, and I am responsible for the living of it, so why not dream it up and imagine it becoming exactly what I want, regardless of how “crazy”, “weird” or “irresponsible” that may seem to those around me whom I love and respect. The fact is that I am not irresponsible in any way, am just crazy enough to keep life abundantly fun, and there are other weirdos all over the place out there if I keep myself open meeting them.

We shall just have to see where this all goes, but I am considering my options while also drinking in the life around me in the here and now.

I’ve spent the last two days walking with a new companion, Hunter, a black lab who has more energy than any other dog I have ever met. His owner called to tell me she had broken her wrist, and is in a cast for the next six weeks, which swells and itches like crazy each time she goes out for a walk. It was nice to be out with a dog again. I realized how much I prefer having an animal companion out there in the woods to being alone.

As I type this Hunter is traipsing through my backyard, just as Sanford used to do, plugging his nose up against the glass of my kitchen window.

Tick season is here with a vengeance, and last weekend I had one embedded in my scalp. I noticed it as I scratched the crown of my head, and asked Shirley to take a look at the lump. Thankfully I was over there for an afternoon visit. I knew right away what it was, and she confirmed it. She drowned it with dish soap, as they will sometimes back out on their own if suffocated, and fetched Ken who pulled it out with a pair of needle-nosed pliers. I called our local paramedic first, just to double-check the removal protocol, and all went smoothly. Whew.

Things at the school have been going great. I had a new student start early this week, which brings numbers up to five. We are spending lots of time in the outdoors exploring the signs of spring unfolding around us, sketching and painting. We also had the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in again to perform another Coho dissection, as this was such a big hit last year I thought it valuable to repeat the activity.

I hope this finds you all well and enjoying a spring of your own inner blooms.