Thursday, July 24, 2008

the big city.

ah. lo siento. todavía estoy aquí. i warned you. i might not be good at this. :) 

cj came home last weekend. gosh it is good to see his sweet face. after a year and a half it certainly is a sight for sore eyes. a scribbilty scrop for scrippling eyes. let me tell you, the bittersweet of being home is a lot sweeter with him around. he's doing really well. a doctor's visit revealed that he doesn't need surgery--yes! so he's hangin' in there. 

but besides sharing stories and rocking on the porch with bear and drinking lots of beer and coffee and getting too full off momma's good cookin'--- i made it to new york last week. my dad and i ventured to the east so spend some time with my sis and see the life they've made there. it was so great. 
 
brooklyn first. 
subways.
kat and nate's apartment. 
pier seventeen. 
battery park. 
cobblestone streets. 
soho.
evolution.
world trade centers. 
times square. 
central park. 
museum of modern art. 
fifth avenue-- apple, fao shwartz, tiffanys.
the east village.
body exhibit. 
hell-of-a-trip back to michigan. 

a stunningly sweet symphony of swift sightseeing with my sister. 



things are fine. and as for the next months, plans are still developing. things have changed a bit with cj coming home, so right now i'm just soaking things up here in the northeast central. phew. thank goodness he is safe and sound. mongolia and all that it entails will happen next summer. so for now, each day is a day closer to settling into spain (i will now be heading there the 27th of august), and that keeps me going. :)  



Wednesday, July 16, 2008

homeward bound


cj's coming home!!! 


Sunday, July 13, 2008

bring on the vibes

safe? who said anything about safe? 'course he isn't safe. but he is good. 

blogging. it seems odd to me to write a blog. i'm not used to it. a mix of personal feelings and thoughts with opinions and news and plans and updates. maybe i'll get better at it as time goes on? here's to hoping. after all, it's only been a long week since i left the homeland. 

and so here is where things get personal. perhaps i write this to sort through thoughts and feelings, but mostly i write it to get the news out there, to get other people's minds spinning, to get good vibrations out in the world. from one part of the world to the other. my brother cj is serving in the peacecorps in mongolia right now-- doing incredible work as an english teacher trainer in the town of darkhan. this past weekend was the national holiday/festival called nadam: a weekend of wrestling and wrangling and raucusing and a ravaging good time. cj is as adventurous as they come; a beacon of taking risks; a true genius in the avenue of trying things. but sometimes there is a price to pay for such genius. 

a few days ago, during the nadam festival, cj and a few buddies decided to take a horse ride; hop on, take part, tap into their inner mongol. unfortunately, cj was thrown off his wild horse. he fractured his skull (a hair-line fracture), broke seven ribs, and broke his shoulder blade into fragments. ah. one of his broken ribs has slightly punctured one of his lungs. ah. ah. ah. right now he is safely in a hospital in ulaanbaatar, mongolia. there is talk of being flown elsewhere for shoulder surgery; there is other talk of domestic rehabilitation; there is lots of other talk of slow  bureaucratic decision-making. he is not in critical condition. he is a tough cookie, the toughest. "ya, but at least i got thrown off a horse. at least it was a real mongolian way to go down. at least i have that experience." haha, cj, you're incredible. but of course he is in pain. of course he is frustrated that no decisions are being made. of course caught in the limbo of decisions made in washington, across the world, is not the place to be in. of course. of course i am scared.

and so i write this. to get it out in the universe. to ask your dearest thoughts to be sent his way. to be thinking of this man, this brother of mine. please think of him, pray for him, keep him in your thoughts--do what you will. the more it is out there the more peace of mind and body i hope he will feel.  i hope that is true.
 
we're thinking of you, bud. <3

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

a drive.

and so it begins. hit the ground runnin'. put on those travelin' shoes. cowboy up. take off. let go. i'm not standin' still on this mountain, i'm chasin' down what's been hauntin' me. i've got the wanderin' blues. whatever phrase or lyric you want to mutter under your breath, it has started. 

i'm not quite sure what day it is. that seems to be a common theme when i venture from west to east. i tend to loose track in the stillness of home. and it is a great feeling-- no deadlines, no clocking in, no rushing. it is still. and i loose track of what day it is. i think its wednesday. we'll go with that until somebody comes home and i can ask them. 

backtracking a little. last saturday things began. i packed up ol' mazey (that sweet sweet volvo that has done me well), and hit the highway. me. my cowboy hat. my side-kick buches. my map. some great mixes of music. a will to not use the air-conditioning. and a shit-load of my belongings. i'll spare all of the dreamy details of the trip. but here are a few highlights: 

day one: seattle to twin falls idaho. six hundred twenty seven miles. a lot of mixed emotions leaving a place and people i love so much. but ready to venture out and on. i play games with myself to pass the time. they're fun(ny). 
day two: twin falls idaho to north platte nebraska. eight hundred forty one miles. i realize i am a sucker for scenic overlooks, and for any excuse to pull off the highway and see somethin to see. i witness the beauty of southern idaho, the grand canyon-esque images of twin falls. it is on this day that i learn that mazey does not like to go 70 miles-an-hour in the rain, and she will in fact fake a flat tire in order for me to pull over. wuss. rightfully so, i wouldn't want to go that fast in that weather either. driving through southern wyoming is amazing, full of thunderstorms and rain and that incredible country scent. i'd bottle that if i could. cornfields and sunsets are worth mentioning. 
day three: north platte nebraska to grand rapids michigan. nine hundred miles. western iowa was my favorite part of the drive (highway 680). beautiful with rolling green hills and farms and land. it is hot though. without using the ac, i read 102 degrees on the thermometer. oh my. it is on this day that i get pulled over. a small bump in the trip. no i wasn't speeding, i was guilty of having flowers hanging from my rear-view mirror. "oh, and would you mind opening your trunk?" ok, douchebag. sure. and then i reach michigan. i hear the crickets--they're so loud that i can hear them even when the windows down and driving. and then, knapp street and the valley and the walnut tree and the front porch and home. 

i cried myself silly when i started. i laughed myself silly when i put in the comedy albums (thanks d and t). i danced. i sweated. and i made it. 

and from this front porch i write now. full of rivaling nostalgia: for what this home is and used to be, for my home in seattle, and for all that is to come. sitting on the front porch, rockin' away.