Finding Peace in Odd Moments

My plane was late taking off so I took the opportunity to meditate in a place away from people and in a corner. About 20 minutes into it(yes, I set my cell alarm for 30 minutes), I was kicked by a woman, who upon opening my eyes was bending down to pet my knee saying, " Sorry, I did not see you!" It was not like I was in high traffic area, and if she did she was walking straight towards a pillar that supports the structure with no possible way to go further unless she planned on jumping through the window. What was amazing, I was really not fazed, nor even expressed any anger, and only a bit surprised, so I just looked at her and said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine and it’s OK”. I continued with my meditation until the gate call. I was able to get a business class seat in my own row, only to be lucky to have a couple with a young son behind my seat, to keep me up the entire 10 hour flight. The child was not abnormally loud for his age, but even so, did not allow me to sleep. The parents apologized, but I found his hide and seek with me charming, far more than annoying. The plane after this, way was worse. I am trying to transform every experience this trip into a pleasant one, knowing trying to control the world, which I finally found out you can’t possibly do. Maybe I am slow learner. Nevertheless, it helped to make for a great three days upon arrival, running on nearly little sleep we packed a weekend with my nephews within two hours of arrival. Everyone knows two seven year olds can wear you out fast, but we still managed to teach them to swim in two days, go to the zoo, and more.

A Heart Appears Before Departure

Faced with an unbelievable amount of things to be done before a trip, I relax after making dinner for a friend. Looking around at piles of things that beg for me to place them in the appropriate places and get them the hell of the way to clean my house. “Because, you knows hows I hate coming home to a dirty house!” Secretly, I placed the piles in such a way to avoid cleaning too fast. Just so I can do it in a rush and forget something only to remember it over the pacific while slugging a glass of champagne. And you would not know it looking at me. I did get my nephews gifts today to pack in my luggage, because we skipped the dad phase in its entirety and I graduated to Grandpa. And you can’t disappoint kids.
I was pleasantly surprised when a friend stopped by with this beautiful ex-voto heart as a gift for me. It most likely was worn on the chest of a clothed saint. We tried to guess which one with the “A” monogram, perhaps El Alma De Maria. No matter who it was, it was a gift from the heart. Suggesting to me once again that Buddhas are everywhere, and I could learn more about giving. I actually feel more humbled. My friend is someone I have learned much from in our years of friendship, and I must never to take his wisdom lightly. Thank You.

If You Don't Believe...

With the lyrics “If you don’t believe all the nights while you are gone, I sighed for ya” going through my head when I went to sleep and jumped into one of my crazy dreams. With a set of pointy ears, I was involved in a strange game in a multi-level house. I got the ears as a gift that I made it past the man upset because I pulled a WWII vintage nickel of his collection of stuff I was sorting for him and put in different box. I was helping to sort through all his stuff to get rid of some and sell some. He thought I should have thrown in with the rest of his junk. I do have the eye, so I only made him more money. He gave the set of pointy Spock ears had gathering dust, so much in fact that were like flocked. I took them away and proceeded to play a game in a huge compted house. By that I mean it was faked, the floors were painted paper stick down and the walls foam core board just like I used create packages before they were signed off on and produced. In this fake house was a boy with me tickled by jumping up and down on the floor where the paper did not stick down well. We were play chasing each other like hide and seek, a favorite children’s game of mine. I had him laughing at my ears, too. I was buzzed from coffee I had, that was dispensed in lip-gloss containers with a flavor like Blueberry Chiapas coffee. That you would make by swirling the applicator saturated when you dipped it into the holder and placing in hot water. This dream goes on and on and may be a sign of intelligent life just waiting for a good idea to emerge. Thanks, Deniece Williams for the inspiration.

Suffering of Others

While at a volunteer luncheon with many people who put far more hours than I do, I was listening to the hospital CEO awarding them. One fellow was his friend and a volunteer for 20 years. I don’t see him in the course of my volunteering, but began to wonder how these two came to be friends. The CEO/Dr is miles away from the volunteer in pay and stature. I also was wondering why his name was the same as the hospital name where my mom had to hire a private nurse to just to make sure I wasn’t inexplicably expired. That brought back a new set of memories. Never the less, when upon completion of the luncheon I ran into the volunteer pro in the washroom. Observing that he had some deficits, my heart suddenly went out to him. I said, Hi and asked him if the CEO was related to the other hospital. He told me they have no connection. In talking it became quickly obvious he is suffering from something, but I don’t sound all that great either. A simple bond. He told me he has early alzheimer's, while walking out. I thanked him for his service in a real show of heart felt appreciation. Spontaneously, I felt compelled to give him a hug, knowing every day must be difficult and trying. And, I felt lucky again, my concerns waned.

Difficulty is mostly a mental experience. If you enjoy what you are doing, even with serious physical ailments subside with the degree of happiness. It falls true with my speech, if I am rested and enjoy the dialogue my speech or helping others it is so much clearer. I look physically well and fit, but once I speak people often assume I am drunk or deaf. So, I have to get past their preconceptions just to order a coffee. It can be frustrating and often friends who are with me cannot believe that I say the right word, but some people can’t figure me out and my friends will blurt out, He said, so and so. This has been a great way to learn patience and acceptance of others, for me. I often laugh at myself, or practice several times before speaking out loud. But basically, we(me included) all say too much as a general rule, so we can’t expect to be great listeners. If you really listen you’ll realize the suffering of others… even in its minor forms of simple discomfort.

Train Market Dedication

My partner and I were chatting, recalling our first meeting, “Do you think that I will be a nice person when we first met? Of course, I said, “Yes!” Our email contact, 8 years ago, while we were both at work for the three months prior to me visiting, I had pretty much come to that decision with great confidence.



I knew that at what he had written to me was truth. I knew about his job, family and life. We had met while I was with friends there, and we planned a trip to the north to see his family. My friends said, “Go, it will be a great experience.”



It was, and was just the beginning. I remember drinking rice wine with his grandfather and later the two us talking about the stars. What I saw and observed was someone who lived his life with honesty and truth. No gaming playing, lying or even being coy.



How refreshing. We had no intention on either one of our parts to be anything more than friends, but a month later we had gradually fallen in love. We both had previous long-term experience, so we knew what we desired in the other. He had met my friends both Thai and American and they too, liked him.



The rest is history, and not without a few difficult times that we crossed with flying colors. In fact, those same difficult times reinforced our love and our heart felt intention. We have rings and much more than that, a commitment that shines brightly when things are tough for either one of us. Last year, we traveled again to where our honeymoon was in 2002, just to reaffirm it. I am a better person from what I have learned from him and it still continues to be fun and growing.



He has picked up enjoying reading from me, and spun it off when he found he liked history besides fiction. We have traveled to a few countries, and want to see many others.



He took these photos of the Train Market for me to put on my blog, hopefully my love of photography has inspired him. This blog is dedicated to him.

Need A Smile?

Why Did I?...an update.

Update on a blog post from late December. I was outside doing some clean up on some trees around my house. The female officer who responded to my call back then, to go back and look at the man I helped home, stopped by and said hello. She told me that they did go back to his apartment and admitted him to the hospital. She could not tell me any other details, because of privacy concerns. But she was able to communicate his well being and my contribution to it. I replied, I am glad and thank you. I knew that night when she came to my house that beneath the hard protective layer there was a heart of gold. Her male partner thought I was crazy, but she intervened and took off to his house after talking to me. There are so many good people in life that we only get a glimpse if we are lucky. That is why it important to not pre-judge others.