,We left Pennsylvania weeks later than "planned", and when we hit the road, there was a major ice storm along 1,000 miles of our path to California. We drove for three hours to Cleveland and enjoyed a Pho dinner, but as we were eating, it didn't feel right to continue along our path. Someone mentioned to us on Facebook (as a joke) that we should divert and go to Florida...and as we sat in the beginning of the winter storm, realizing this was our last road trip until the baby arrives, we decided Why Not go to the Beach? After many trips back and forth across the country, it's the one place Leo and I have never been together. And I knew some sunshine would finalize my healing from being sick. Plus, when we looked at the route to our friends in Sarasota, we realized along the way we would get to see our good friend Allie, Leo's Godfather, and many friends in Sarasota before heading to New Mexico to stay with his Godmother. Seemed like the perfect route, as we didn't expect to be able to see so many wonderful people before the baby is here. We enjoyed every conversation, laugh, and meal over the week. We had two days in Charlotte and three days in Sarasota. The sun and ocean filled up our hearts and warmed our core, and we felt so blessed to be able to have those moments. The three day drive from Florida to New Mexico was hard on me and the baby. Just in the past two weeks my belly has popped, and my back and hips and the baby were very uncomfortable with three 12 hour days in the car. I miss traveling in the bus and laying in the bed. I knew this was definitely going to be the last long trip I would be able to do with all the physical discomfort. But we tried to get through the southern states quickly to avoid a large storm and tornadoes. Turns out we made it one day ahead of the mess that swept through the south. We enjoyed New Mexico, and got stuck there for two extra nights due to another winter storm (called Leo haha) that came across California, Arizona and New Mexico. We rerouted to avoid snow (yes snow!) and managed to only drive two hours in snow in Arizona. We took two more days to drive to northern California, and finally made it to our new home! Our landlord had a fire going for us in the wood stove, but it was absolutely freezing inside still. No one had lived in the house in almost a month, and we arrived at 10pm so were blessed to see the fire going. We pulled out our mattress from the bedroom (which had been gifted to us and delivered the previous week) and set up in the living room directly in front of the stove. We closed the two bedroom doors to help with heat, but as we started to settle in we realized it felt good to slowly move into an entire house. We spent a week living out of the kitchen and living room before slowly moving into the bedroom. It felt appropriate to get used to so much space, having spent all our time together in a car, tent, and bus. From living on the road, to nesting in a house, we have found that every step we take together is a new adventure. And this new chapter happens to be the one of Playing House. ;)
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It appears that we need to plan to be in my hometown during future visits. Back in September our two week visit turned into seven weeks, and this time our 10 day visit turned into three and a half weeks. I intend to plan longer visits as I find I really enjoy being with my family for an entire month and I also will love to have our baby grow connected to his grandparents, great grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins. It's really hard to leave, but I know we must hit the road. We were supposed to move into our house in two days, but we are going to take about a week to drive there, so now we have an empty house awaiting our "late" arrival. But what is "late" anyways, what is this human made concept of time...why do we stick to dates and times that have no real relevance. How could we function in society being organized and evolved, but also let go of the idea of time. How would we know when to meet someone for lunch? How would we gather to share creative ideas and make plans to see them come alive as a community? How would we make commitments to others? Living without the concept of time seems an impossible feat, Yet, how can we use the idea of time to be accomplished and committed to meals, parties, meetings, vacations, transportation arrangements, and such if it seems to hold us down in a lifestyle that has now become stressful daily life, mostly due to time. We think we run late for work, need bills paid on "time", forget meetings, make lunch dates, book plane tickets, all to find out that those time commitments add stress to our lives. We sit annoyed at red lights, run out the door forgetting our wallet, pay late fees on bills, meet with people who suck our energies dry rather than let new life giving people enter into our life unexpectedly, and we feel rushed to leave those we love due to already paying for rent on the other side of the country.
I learned to let go of time over various lessons in life, but it continuously creeps back in. Finding the balance with time has been a bit of a struggle you could say, yet in those moments when you can completely surrender to divine timing in your life, you see and feel all the magic that can transpire. All the little conversation, laughter, new opportunities, free meals, new friendships or even meeting your life partner. I felt rushed to leave by December 31st so we could take two weeks to enjoy the drive across the country. Our final major road trip before the baby. But on Christmas Eve, Leo was sick in bed with a 104 degree fever. I took him cold washcloths, water, herbs, and rubbed his pain to help with the aches and pains. He was coughing just a little, had chills, and couldn't eat. I was convinced I would be fine and just wanted to shower him in love and hoped he would recover quickly. He did indeed recover quickly, but just as his fever broke, I spiked one. I ended up with a major cough, headache, chills and low grade fever. Leo then switched rolls with me and rubbed my body with a cold washcloth to prevent the fever from spiking into the dangerous range for the baby. My recovery took days. Finally I started to feel better and was able to teach a few yoga classes. Then I got a major sinus headache, the cough got worse, and I was worried all the coughing was unsafe for the baby (not true). I refused to see a doctor because I didn't want the baby exposed to antibiotics. I also refused Sudafed or Tylenol Cold and tried a few herbs, honey, and oils that were safe for the baby. I would start to feel better, and then get hit back down again. Another week later and I had a terrible ear ache that started late at night. The ear then started ringing, throbbing, completely clogged up and I couldn't sleep. By this point the pain was so bad that I felt like me being that uncomfortable may be stressing the baby. I went to the ER at four am and got put on an antibiotic for a sinus infection and bronchitis. The ear had to heal up slowly, and it continued to be clogged so that I had only about 5% hearing. I felt like I didn't know what the best choice for the baby would have been. If I had gotten on an antibiotic the week prior, the baby wouldn't have had to deal with me being sick for so long. Why didn't the homeopathic and herbal remedies that have always worked for me do anything this time? I guessed it was because of the pregnancy. My immune system is so focused on building a little human, that it was easier for me to stay knocked down with a seasonal cold/flu. Plus it didn't help that this is the time during pregnancy when the mucous membranes of the sinuses are naturally congested. I had to accept that I needed more rest, the baby would be fine if I took the antibiotic and Sudafed, and our house would still be waiting for us even if we showed up a week "late". Lessons in life often lead back to Trust and Divine Timing... |
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February 2018
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