Life (Spirit) Calling

Many thanks for your patience, O Faithful Readership. While i still feel a big hole in my heart and in my life due to Sandy’s passing, i am at the same time feeling more ready to get on with living. She is still such a big part of my thoughts and feelings, and i will continue to burn a candle in the window for her every evening, till the 40^th day following her death, Jan. 30.

i cried every day for the first 8 or 9 days after she disappeared, and quite a few times after that as well. But an experience i had on Tuesday the 10^th helped me to re-shift my perspective toward joy and the present, away from pain and the past.

i had the day off, and set out after breakfast for an adventure on the road, destination Eureka, location of the nearest Border’s, determined to spend there the gift certificate my sister Eileen had given me for Christmas. It was overcast, but i had a rain-poncho as i walked down the dirt-road away from Heartwood.

Two hours later i’d made it to Garberville, and after picking up some cash at an ATM, i made for the entrance-ramp to 101-north. After a half-hour of nothing (and in a light rain), i thought to take my chances down on the highway itself, and so moseyed on past the Pedestrians prohibited sign and again stuck my thumb out. But traffic was really light, and after another half-hour or so, i thought maybe Spirit was sending me a sign that i wasn’t meant to make it to Eureka that day. So i said to myself that if i didn’t have a ride after another 17 cars had passed (17 -- one of my lucky numbers!), i’d take that as a sign, and head back to the ‘wood.

Well, about ten cars and fifteen minutes later, a somebody in an SUV pulled over hard and came literally to a screeching halt. I thought, “hmmm, this might be interesting.” Turns out that this 30-year-old “no-budget filmmaker” named John was on his way back to his home in Eureka after a dental appointment in Laytonville, while learning to drive his girlfriend’s stick-shift! Nice guy, good chat, and an hour later he dropped me off, right in front of where i needed to be: the Bayshore Mall!

Eileen, you’ll be wantin’ to know what i bought with your gift certificate, so here it is: 1) Marathon: You can do it! by Jeff Galloway, and 2) a CD, Outernational Sound, by Thievery Corporation. Hartstikke bedankt susje! (Sincerest thanks little sister!) Always nice to mix a little pleasure (the music) with the pain (marathon training)!

Next stop: the local Footlocker, where i happened to find a $100-pair of running shoes being discontinued and on sale for $30. A haircut ($17 incl. a $3 tip) and a sandwich later and i was ready to start the trip back.

i walked about a mile back down the road to a spot i’d learned previously was good for getting southbound rides out of Eureka. It was going on 4:30 and i knew it’d be dark in about an hour, and so was delighted when after about ten minutes, a woman in an SUV stopped who was going to Redway, about a mile south of Garberville! And because we so totally hit it off, she was more than pleased to take me into the spot in town from where i needed to hitch back to school. Her 19-month-old son Ricky mostly slept while we rode and talked and laughed, and smoked a hand-rolled (tobacco) cigarette. i commented on my good karma in getting picked up in such weather, so late in the day, and she said when she saw me she got a picture in her mind of a monk. (Maybe it was my red poncho!) One of the guys who picked me up on the way to G’ville had also commented on how he’d picked up a good vibe from me, adding that he seldom stopped for hitchers anymore, having been robbed by two over the years.

Anyway, it was dark and raining and the wind was blowing pretty hard when my next ride dropped me off about 3 miles up the hill from G’ville. And i STILL got picked up not long after that, by a young woman named Kelly, who turned out to be an ex-Woodie! She took me past her turn-off another mile or so to the end of the pavement, but was hesitant to take me onto the dirt road in that rain with her car. But right after she let me out, the first kee-YOOT driver of the entire day stopped! i think his name was Byron: he wore a long beard and a cowboy hat, had a great dog in the back of his new black pick-up, and dropped me off in the Heartwood parking lot; i reached the dry, warm comfort of my own room before 8 pm.

When i reflected on how well the entire day had gone, esp. the part about hitching in a single day back and forth to Eureka – which is is about two hours non-stop drive time each way – i couldn’t help but feel grateful for how Spirit had watched out for me and, once again, provided what i needed when i simply trusted that it would come. The whole day -- the things that happened the way they did and the people i met -- acted as a catalyst to gently lift me a bit further out of the pit of despair i’d fallen into after Sandy’s departure.

In other news ...
i succumbed and joined Netflix, and here’s a movie you should not miss (Mike Morone this esp. means you): Story of the Weeping Camel. The little blurb that comes with the movie spoils the ending, so DO NOT READ IT. i’m glad i didn’t; the ending was 1000 times sweeter in that it was totally unexpected. All you'll really need to know is that the movie is basically about a Mongolian family and their camels. Run-time about 90 minutes.

Correspondence Corner
Contact again after many years came with a postcard from Hawai’i from Lisa Vice on vacation, friend from my time in Monterey. What an adjustment: from her former home in small-town Wyoming to Japan!

Out of confinement with Homeland Security after 11 months of wrongful imprisonment, Faisal Ismail – closest friend (next to Falah and not counting of course Abdulkarim) from my time in Saudi Arabia – is back in touch and back on America’s roads driving trucks around the deep south. He’d re-found one of his old address books with Scott’s and Kathy’s phone number, and left messages on their machine saying that he’d continue to call until he got updated contact info for me! He’s living in North Carolina and happily married with an 11-month old son! Can’t wait to hook up with this wonderful guy again, Palestinian born and brought up in the desert kingdom, and in spite of the hell he endured at “confinement centers” around the south, loving life in the USA. Good thing for him (and 5 of his colleagues in confinement) that he taught himself what habeas corpus means, or he’d still be there today.

RIP Martha Laurance who passed from this world Jan. 15, the sweet mother of Monterey Institute classmate and good friend Paddy Laurance. The greatest gift she ever gave me was to make me feel like family every time i visited. Tears came to my eyes as i read the eulogy that Paddy, her sibs and her dad delivered. A sweeter, kinder, gentler, funnier woman you couldn’t hope to meet. She will be remembered in my prayers for some time to come.

Another blast from the past came last Nov. 4, my graduation day, from old Hofstra buddy Todd “Speedo” Kreisler, who also tracked me down by calling at Scott and Kathy's place. Terrorizing the campus from the relative safety of his electric scooter explains his nick-name, but no one has yet arrived at a satisfactory explanation for his sense of humor. He was kind enough to send along some photos; i tried to included a couple here, but Blogger was taking a looooooooooooooong time to upload them, and now that it's the second attempt and 1:30 in the morning, i'm saving the next attempt for another day. Look for them next time you're back here.

Birthday shout-outs
Janet’s sister Anne Starkweather blew out candles on the 6^th! Fellow Heartwoodies Chelsea Rutherford and Candace Wase dug more deeply into 20’s territory on the 13^th and 16^th; and former Heartwoodie and freakin’ fabulous friend from the Farm where Sandy stayed this summer, Lisa Zipperman, celebrated the big three-six, also on the 13^th. Big bad birthday wishes to big bad Heartwood buddy Azad who turns 23 Jan. 24. And the biggest cock-knocker i ever met, Mike Morone, will turn 47 on the 25^th! Whenever i’m feeling a little bit over-the-hill (which has actually never happened), i can always look to my buddy Mike for someone even more over it.

Amanda big thanks for the Amazon Christmas gift certificate .. i'll let YOU know as soon as i've narrowed the selection!

Eileen nice talking to you yesterday before you left for the drive back down to New Jersey. Hope you’ve arrived safely, and can't wait to laze around Kathy’s cottage with you this August!

Next post: 1st Tuesday of next month: Feb. 7.