Open-Hearted Travel Adventures
Doorways…so often referred to in philosophical conversations. Metaphors for opening into new adventures. As I look at these doors in the Midi-Pyrenees of France, very old, and very real, with cobblestones worn smooth from time and use, I can only wonder. Who passed through these openings, and gazed from these windows?
Just outside our door are pathways. They lead in all directions. Each morning, after coffee and eggs and more, we pick a direction and go. These paths are actually old narrow roads, lined by moss-covered stone walls. Some may go back 900 years to the Roman Empire. They cut through a low forest of trees, and grassy meadows. They wind past ancient round shepherd’s huts built of stone, and old stone huts, many with caved-in roofs, some still intact.
This day we get a late start, and bring a picnic, stopping at an abandoned old farm complex to eat. There are two large barns. We push aside brambles and sit on the front steps of the beautiful house, built of stone and love, several hundred years ago, whose floors are now falling through. The front door is a little open. Inside is a jumble of dusty and forgotten things. A table on it’s side, an old shoe carved of wood, bottles, and remnants unknown. The sunshine illuminates a side room painted a light sea-foam green. Who lived here? What was the path of their life?
Dessert is a few mirabel plums, fallen into autumn’s soft dry grass. Golden flesh, dark purple skins, ripe and sweet. It’s quiet, except for birds. The narrow road ahead disappears around the next bend of the gently hilly terrain. We haven’t seen a single soul. Finally we decide to turn around and head back towards home.
.
What will the direction of our next path reveal?
Do we pick our paths or do they pick us? Are we each dreaming up our futures? I feel like I have been calling in this dream for most of my life, and yet I also feel the gift of surprising and good fortune. A wise friend once advised me to “Just keep saying YES” . I like the way that sounds.
New places call to me…
Home…can be: that place of familiarity, that place of security, safety, routine ease…That place you work so hard to establish, to have, for your peace of mind, your sanctuary.
And THEN, and THEN, the call comes…from the wild, the unknown…asking me, asking you, to step outside and FEEL and LOOK, at more.
To look at, to be open to, a much bigger place of sanctity. The bigger place that is our home: this PLANET, the whole EARTH that we live on during our short lives.
And that call has come to me, as it has been calling to me my whole life. And so I am answering, YES… YES, I am packing, I am coming, I will soon take flight.
I am about to fly, I am about to lift my wings, and by my side is a most precious gift: my husband, my life mate, Dave.
How very fortunate I am, and how very fortunate I am to know that I am fortunate.
I remember as a young child being captivated by the beauty I saw all around me; in Nature, and in things man-made. As an adult, I thrive on beauty, in all sorts of environments. I seek out this Beauty, and feed upon it. I find it in many hidden places by looking closely and observing the sometimes less than obvious. Beauty can be found in surprising places. Often the beauty is visual, but it also comes in the form of sound, taste, or smell. Beauty speaks to us, and sings to us. Music is beauty, and a universal language of the soul. And color…it speaks to us, in the language of our unique individuality.
The sacred places of worship have always been where men and women gathered, and laid bare their souls, in times of unbearable pain, or in times of joy and gratitude. In times of fear, times of great uncertainty; at death, or at birth. Even under the most primitive living conditions, these sacred places were where the community gathered and collected stories of lives lived. When I visit these places, I feel a mysterious essence and vibration that was both always there within the earth, and has been left behind by those who came before me. I can only humbly wonder what that is.
M o v i n g f o r w a r d ~Hatching the plan
On January 3rd, 2014, I came home from the office and complained to Dave that if we wanted to sell our rental house in Escondido and not get eaten alive by taxes, we would have to move out of our home in Valley Center and down to Escondido for 2 years. And, I whined, I was VERY comfortable in Valley Center, having lived there for 15 years. The entire house & property had been embellished with all manner of artistic and beautiful improvements, the combination of Dave’s skills in construction, and our design sense. The most recent thing we’d added was a Japanese bath house off the master bedroom. The hot tub was simply beyond amazing for viewing the stars at night, to the chorus of coyotes. So, I was shocked to hear Dave reply that he would consider moving. “You would do that?” I said… “Well… If you would be willing to move, then OK, so would I!” And that is when this next adventure all began to happen. Right then, right there; a wild and crazy but very exciting and inspiring idea was born.
“When the Rainbow Comes” ~ by World Party
C’mon pack your bags
Clear the floor
Let’s step out through the open door
Leave a note that says goodbye
Build a new house
Down by the sea
Get to the place we were meant to be
You’ll know it when you smile
Up at the window
Search’n the sky
Looking for the rainbow
And don’t ask why
I wanna see the rainbow come
M O V I N G F O R W A R D: a few months later…
June 5th 2014 -Still packing up the V.C. house…I feel like I’m in purgatory. The life review, the letting go, the decisions to make, are exhausting. The packing and the sorting and the tossing out just seems to be endless. But when we are done, how freeing that will be. How much healthier our homes will be, having been cleaned out, repaired and set right again as we go into the future so much lighter and uncluttered. This is the time to do this. Now. While we can face the task, and have clear enough minds to make the hard decisions: what stays and what goes. I wouldn’t want to face all this later as an older us.
We didn’t realize we had accumulated so much stuff. It was easy to save things that seemed precious or valuable in some way or another. Easy to find a little cupboard to tuck away the treasures. Eeeesh! We should form a support group for people moving from long term residences.
But now, we are looking with fresh new eyes, and seeing the useless weight of things no longer needed, and things not worth continuing to host in our home. It’s as if we went to the doctor and discovered high cholesterol, blocked arteries and more. And by cleaning out, correcting our health habits we could restore ourselves, before serious problems caused damage. Ahhhh, we will be so much more comfortable when all this process is finished! So great to go forward with a freshened and much lighter load of baggage. Liberating, freeing, and making room for more adventures beyond our home, in the greater global home.
Staying alone at the V.C. house has its perks. Dave is over getting Escondido ready to move into. The other night, late, I played the piano really loud and sang along with it. No one had to listen, except Gypsy Cat, and she liked it. So did I.
This part of the plan… further ahead, after we sell The Escondido house, when we have the chance to be free of a house, and travel for a while: I really want that. I keep thinking about how to do it. How to tuck our stuff away safe somehow, and wander in Europe and elsewhere. With rental income, and without a mortgage to pay back here. With less to worry about for a while. I want that freedom. I really do. But it’s going to take some thought and planning.
6-11-14 Tomorrow we move me out of Valley Center and over to Escondido. My office things, and my bedroom things. I am supposed to be packing right now. Instead I am drinking wine and boiling some little potatoes I found in the fridge. I am exhausted in all ways. It’s 8:57pm. Gypsy is purring beside me at the computer. She’s reminding me that in some places, all is well. Every so often, I get a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel. But for now, the relentlessness just goes on and on and…on.
TO the Valley Center house: Thank you for all your beauty. Thank you for your warmth in winter, and your coolness in summer. Thank you for your twilight evenings, and the cool evening air floating in through the windows all night. Thank you for the Milky Way we can see some nights in the clear night sky, and your misty mornings. Thank you for the trees we see all around us, for the mysterious stone metates, and for the old oaks. Thank you for the birds of prey, the quails, the goldfinches, the real bluebirds. All the birds. Thank you for the coyote choruses, and the bobcats too. Thank you for the deep peace we have felt here. We have thrived in this home. We will leave and return with gratitude and full hearts.
A dash of humor: On Jan 3rd 2014, Dave and I got the bright idea to do this move. It took us until now, June 12th to realize that it was a huge, colossal mistake. Ha ha ha …haaaa…groan…
6-14-14: Have slept At the Escondido house for two nights now. I did not know that the Escondido skies do not get dark at night. Thought there was a street light on outside, but no. Cloud cover glows with light reflections. I will have to adjust my expectations for optimum sleeping conditions. Or get black-out shades!
6-23-14: Big sigh of relief: We have found our tenants for V.C., for the most part exactly what I was asking for. A nice couple, healthy, happy, and conscious. They are delighted to have possession of the house for 3 years, enjoying the space that we have enjoyed creating, along with the natural beauty and quiet that has always been here. I get the impression that they will really enjoy their time there, and that makes us happy and inspired to welcome them to a home and property in tip-top condition.
6-28-14 This is zit: The house In Escondido has a pimple. It’s near the dining area where the piano will go. It is of course a metaphor, for the boxes of stuff that have come over from Valley Center that need to be processed and put away or given away. This pile of boxes is larger than I wish it were, and needs to be cleansed and/or extracted soon. It could possibly be a source of embarrassment. I really wish it weren’t there. Yuk.
6-29-14 After putting on some soothing music and lying down for 15 minutes to contemplate a hot compress of determination and inspiration, I was able to reduce the pimple of boxes to less than half their original size. I’m feeling extremely grateful, and rather woozily blissed out from such success. Tonight we get to go see our favorite band: Karl Wallinger’s band, “World Party” at the Belly Up in Solana Beach.
7-1-14: It appears that I love gift wrap and pretty ribbons. I could not get rid of the entire chaotic mass of color and fun. At least now it’s greatly reduced and all in one box and neatly organized. That was my task tonight. Sheesh.
5-18-15 Sometimes things move so slowly that forward motion is imperceptible. I have a childish, insecure, depressive side of myself that is very impatient. The basis is some kind of fear. I am working with myself to become more grateful, peaceful, and accepting. Less fearful, more trusting. Yes we are all running out of time, but that is the nature of life. Existence, on the other hand, is eternal, and travels in our DNA. Let the journey unfold, and be entertained with the ever changing scenery.
5-23-15 WingsLifted.com was born. What do I want to do with this website? I want to have a site where prospective homeowners can see who we, potential house-sitters, are. Our skillsets, our adventures, our lives. I also want to have a blog, so that friends and family can keep up with what’s up & where we are. And what we are thinking about; musings. And also a place to post photos. WingsLifted…an adventure in traveling lightly…!
6-2-15 Sometimes I forget why I want to spend a year in Europe, instead of somewhere else. Though I always like the idea of having the adventure. But why Europe? Perhaps it was presented to me as a child as the setting for a grand adventure? It’s where my roots are? Because I like the way their modern society has adapted to the world? I just know I love Europe.I have traveled over there 7 times so far.
1-22-16 The house goes on the market in less than 2 months. Dave is finishing the master bath. Then it’s minor interior details, and more on the outside. Whew! Getting closer, but time seems to move slowly. Will we actually get to be nomadic wanderers? Sometimes I just don’t seem to care if we go or not. That’s CRAZY! I start to forget just how wonderful it is over there. The way they live, relax, treat their food, treat the earth. Some days my dream starts to fade. Refugees in great numbers, looking to just survive, government maneuvers, politics, environmental crisis’s, terrorism, wars….and I want to go in search of beauty? Is that OK? Is it still OK to dream? Perhaps it is the most precious contribution I can make to this world. To go forth and flourish in Love and Joy.