Wednesday, May 7, 2008

flowing


As we contemplate our next move--"the wandering jews" my father calls us--I tap into my true ruminating nature. That is the primary characteristic of the Earth type in Chinese medicine and I am all earth: singsong voice, mother (and meddler) to all, rounder body type with strong hands, sweet tooth, easily bogged down, obsessive ruminator. Regurgitator.

I was thinking today about what is really important to me, trying to clarify a strong intention for our next move so we can quit our wandering, and I realized that not only have I gotten so spoiled by 17 years on the coast, but the last 2 places we've lived have been walking distance to the river. OK, I understand these can't be pre-requisites, but our family knows deeply the restorative power of flowing water and river stones (as well as the killer baseball skills so much rock throwing develops).

Gotta love it here. First we come upon a rusted out shell of car, covered in dust, engine revving as it crawls totally vertical up a rock face under the bridge. I think Isaiah and I had very different ideas about the coolness factor of that sight!

Then, we were reintroduced to a new season of one of our river mugworts, just up and glowing there in the middle of the rocks, about 10 leaves tall. We greeted it so happily and when we asked for some leaves, it beamed Yes! Yes! Yes! We each had a leaf next to our dinner plate, and will place them under our pillows for interesting dreams tonight.

Speaking of dreams, I had an alarming dream last week (this is me who usually dreams of cooking dinner or tripping as I walk down the street) about some Burmese monks walking down the street in a protest, us joining in and then metal walls dropping down to fence city blocks into a police state. So sad what's going on in Burma. Although the scale is different, it reminds me of how unbelievable it seemed that the US government couldn't/wouldn't help the people of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

Thanks to K to supplying a link to an organization--Avaaz-- that works solely with monks to distribute aid. According to their letter, placing money with the monks is the only way to be sure it won't be misused or outright stolen by the military junta in control. I haven't fully checked it out, so do your homework first, but it sounds good to me.

One more thing...if you're feeling inspired in the kitchen or if you're in need of inspiration, head on over to mama's village and join her excellent contest on avoiding takeout and feeding the family so well. Takeout's not an issue for us, given our distance from Thai food, but I'm always happy to talk about our meals.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rach - first of all, is there anything you can't do? I love the pillow. But I love your most recent picture of Belly and the kids...protective Bell-Bell -- my dear old friend, I "awww-d" aloud.

My belief is that G-d always puts us where we are supposed to be in body, mind and place -- however difficult or easy the flow might be -- trust it will all work out.

One last note about Katrina - it still bothers me as well, actually it makes me sick. I'll never forget Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News bolding asking Bush, "Mr. President, would the same thing have happened if Katrina had hit the island of Nantucket." From that day forward, I've never watched a different newscast.
xo
kt and lil sash

Anonymous said...

One of the highlights of MY river walk yesterday was seeing all of your lovely faces! Even if I was in a hurry... seemingly... and didn't even introduce you to Ty. Sorry, how rude!
Living near a river and the ocean isn't too much to ask... ;o)

See you soon, I hope.

village mama said...

Love the flow of this post - your writing is strong, and kind, and songish. I'm 'air', but I feel 'earth'.

Thank you for inviting people to join the fun at mama's village