reality for pausing

Monday, May 30, 2011

Snark, Veggie Dog, and I hiked around the mountain (accompanied by Dave the Dog) one last time this morning.

The plan for today is cleaning, and we'll probably head out tomorrow morning.

We said goodbye to the OBR kin on Friday. Seth took all of us, including our partners, out to dinner at the Roka. We said more goodbyes in Peddler's Alley on Saturday. And I'll probably stop by the shop one last time for additional hugs because it's hard to imagine these people not being in my life anymore on a daily basis.

Other news: Snark cut off my unmanageable hair, which was disgracefully extending into a mullet. I think he did a great job! And the best part: it was free! No thirty dollar haircut here that makes me cry when I look in the mirror.

Before: insect hair (six pony tails!)

After: Blissfully short again!

One of the houseplants we've been taking care of since February is in bloom. It turns out it's an orchid! Right now it has two open flowers.

I think that's about it. Time to pull off my hiking boots, and get to work on the cleaning.

6 comments:

Courtney said...: Cute hair!!! Good luck with the final cleaning!!! I think the orchids are some good luck; what a beautiful flower! xoxoxoxo; May 30, 2011 at 11:34 AM
Anonymous said...: hello; June 2, 2011 at 3:51 PM
Anonymous said...: I was trying to send you a message, but having trouble sending. Your mom is here helping me now. I sent the hello message. I bet you have mixed emotions leaving all your friends in Bisbee and looking forward to seeing your old friends in Ft. Collins, and then of course, coming to see us. gigi; June 2, 2011 at 3:54 PM
Brielle said...: I hope you had a safe trip to CO. I'm impressed by Ryan's barber-shop skills:) Your haircut is VERY cute!

~Brielle; June 3, 2011 at 6:57 AM
sassy said...: Hi Gigi! Thanks for writing. Yes, there are mixed emotions. I'm happy to be in Ft. Collins AND it is, in a way, stressful trying to find a house to rent and waiting to hear if I will get an interview for the job I really want. We'll see! I miss my OBR family, and checking in with them on a regular basis. And I'm looking forward to seeing all of you in CA!; June 8, 2011 at 11:39 AM
sassy said...: Thanks for your comments, Brielle and Courtney! I'm so glad I have shorter hair. It helps on those 90 plus degree days. :-); June 8, 2011 at 11:40 AM

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about this blog

Originally, I created this blog for family and friends to stay updated with our location and happenings while we were traveling the country. But only a few months after I began blogging about our travel adventures we drove into the sweet, slow town of Bisbee and ended up staying. We actually moved five times while living there, thanks to generous neighbors who asked us to long-term housesit in between our rentals. We are on the move once more, and so it seems we are habitually in transition.

Traveling and moving so often stirs up questions for us about what we really need to feel content, comfortable, and energized about life; it emphasizes for us our relationship and attachment to things--ours and other people's things that fill our living spaces; and it encourages me to appreciate the value in staying put, while realizing that frequent physical change underscores the uncertainty and occasions for choice that exist in all moments of life.

MARCH 2011

After a three-month pause for reflection, I'm coming back to this blog with a renewed perspective on what I want to share. I stopped blogging because with so many transitions happening in my life (moving, traveling, moving, and moving again in only a few months)--and, well just ordinary life happening--nothing seemed particularly notable for the sharing. I was feeling tired, overwhelmed, bored, dispassionate, stressed out, worried, weighed down. What did I really have to say? We all feel that way regularly enough, and who needs to hear more?

Pema Chodron touches on this in an article I just recently read in the March 2011 issue of Shambhala Sun: "When we look at the world around us--our immediate world and the bigger world beyond--we see a lot of difficulty and dysfunction. The news we hear is mostly bad news, and that makes us afraid. It can be quite discouraging" (48). Sometimes it takes unthinkable effort to stay encouraged by life when surrounded by so much obvious sadness and negativity--and it's difficult enough to summon the energy to reach beyond the anguish to share the beautiful moments. Maybe we even convince ourselves that the ordinary pleasures of life are insignificant in the face of such suffering. I don't understand the tricks of mind that I play on myself, but I know I repeatedly lose my vision for pausing in everyday reality, for seeing the smallest moments of magic.

Chodron tells us, there is a "basic queasiness that leads us to all kinds of self-destructive and other-destructive habits" and a "whole chain of events that emerges from our fear of uncertainty, of not knowing what in the world is happening or what is going to happen" (49). I feel an urgency to interact with this chain of events; to interfere knowingly--though perhaps innocently; to respond to my abounding fears and uncertainty with intent. I want to return to the primary assumption of this blog--a reality for pausing in: to not overlook or disregard the small points of joy, but to connect them; to appreciate the magic that is present in that which is obscured by routine; to actively express gratitude and to meaningfully alter the "chain of events that emerge" from my thoughts and practices, my surroundings.