Journey Toward Wholeness

Loren and I were still visiting with friends in Sonoma at the beginning of this week. We enjoyed dinner at a restaurant of the lodge named for the famous author of The Call of the Wild and White Fang among other titles, who lived the last years of his life in this area. Afterwards, on our way for ice cream we noticed the moon and thought it was so orange because of the Yosemite fire, however, we learned from the grocery proprietor that it was due to an eclipse. Wow, I snapped a first photo of a moon eclipse!

In the morning Loren went for a 2 hour hard hike with her husband, while his wife and I enjoyed a 1 hour gentler hike around a reservoir. On our way though, she first brought me to see the lot where a house had once been – this was just a few doors away from her own home. The house that had been here was decimated in last October’s Tubbs fire.

It was also sad on this morning to find smoke in the air and to find ash on our cars from the current Yosemite fire, as well as see how low the water reserve is right now. Otherwise it was a beautiful walk in the sunshine, and we could have hiked longer. We plan to do so on our next visit, along with going together to see Jack London State Park.

On driving southward Loren and I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. I think I may have taken it for granted for many of the years that I have lived in California, though I never tire of seeing it. I realize now what an incredible landmark it is in the world. On this day, one of its towers was partially shrouded in fog, making it that much more alluring.  

That afternoon we arrived at a dear friend’s home, where another very special friend was visiting from Ashland, Oregon. We had a short visit together before heading to other friends’ home for a fun evening and dinner.

Over dinner I learned that Loren and I were familiar with the two pieces that our UU Fellowship of Sunnyvale choir would be singing the next day for a memorial service that we had also intended to attend. As the choir was not strong in numbers at rehearsals recently, I was delighted that we could add our voices to honor this long time friend’s life. 

We had a sweet slumber party at our one wonderful friend’s home, then had a nice brief breakfast together before our other dear friend left to drive home to Ashland. Our one friend and I then enjoyed the walk to UUFS, while Loren drove our car to meet us.

I shed my first tear of the day when we sang our children off to their Religious Education classes from the Sunday service. The song our congregation sings is one that a former choir member composed. I love the melody and meaningful lyrics, while it also brought back memories of having sung it in this precious community so, so many times before… 

I shed a few more tears during the Memorial. I snapped a photo of one of the tribute photos afterwards. Two of the women in it, who were among the important female role models in my life, have now died. I am proud and grateful to have known them. 

Later in the week we had a lovely brunch date with friends who will be moving soon to southern California. Somehow I overlooked taking a photo. However, today I can include a photo of their daughter – who we had visited with when we were in Adelaide, South Australia. I had forgotten to take her photo when we were together there, and she was kind enough to later send me the photo she took of herself for my blog!

We also had a memorable lunch this week with cousins on Loren’s mother’s side. One of them brought an old family photo which was fun poring over to identify who was who in the extended family. Afterwards the one cousin and her daughter who live the farthest away came to Loren’s Mom’s house for a special visit with her and Loren’s one sister.

Loren and I finished the week over a potluck gathering with friends who are members of Loren’s first Toastmaster’s club. The couple who hosted have large owls nesting in a palm tree in their yard, and during the afternoon we could see one of them sleeping on a frond! Again, I forgot to take a photo of the event, but, I had spotted a feather on the patio which the host gifted to us and I attached to Loren’s hat. At least I can share that.

The big news this week too is that we began a new schedule. I taught my first two Bikram Yoga classes since we have been back, and look forward to more that I am scheduled to teach later this month. Loren too started a set schedule to be with his Mom. He is taking over one of the days when the paid caregiver had been coming each week, as well as helping out on other days. Now that we know which days, we are able to make time for such things as having our vaccinations for shingles, and other important appointments. 

I will finish with our San Francisco Giants, who will be playing a large number of games this month. Watching them, especially when they win, has become an enjoyable pastime.

I just had to snap a photo of the rock I noticed at the base of a big redwood tree in the parking lot of my credit union. I have no idea who left the rock, or if the message was meant for people or as tribute to the tree, but I will take it as meant for you and me!

Loren and I started this week spending the day with a dear friend from our UU Fellowship of Sunnyvale. She drove the hour or so to see us and we enjoyed a hike around Lake Chabot, then lunch and a long visit that afternoon at our AirBnB. It was a very meaningful time with many good conversations over our day spent together. 

We then had a special email arrive this week, it pointed us to a travel friend’s whittled down photo collection from our tour of Australia’s Red Center. I have so looked forward to receiving this, as he had snapped two phenomenal photos of the night sky that we saw while we were there, which he has generously and graciously included in his collection.

Loren and I also listened to a webinar one evening this week, given by an RN who’s expertise is in end of life oncology. She was teaching about providing end of life care in general. As part of the advertisement for it, we found this quote worth pondering: 

There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers. Rosalynn Carter, former US First Lady

Another highlight this week was the day we spent across the bay. First I saw my acupuncturist – he had helped me some years ago with leftover pain from a broken wrist, and now he is working his magic on my long term knee and more recent pelvis issues. Loren also had lunch that day with a good friend, while I took myself to see the new Anderson Gallery at Stanford University. Before going inside I ate my picnic lunch beside a couple of plaster companions…

Inside I found three favorite pieces among the permanent collection. One is titled Full Time. I appreciated its message about Memory – something else to ponder, and, a new to me technique of painting the title on the edge of the canvas.

   –

Memory is not accurate recall. We remember what we want, what we choose. Our present moment influences our memory of the past. We remember what we want. We make it real by writing our own history, the one tattooed in our mind’s memory.

The other two pieces I especially liked were titled Red in Red, and, At the Lake, Morning.

That afternoon we had a nice visit with our neighbors who have been so helpful through our Journey with managing our mail. But how could I have forgotten to take their photo? In the evening, Loren visited over dinner with a group of men who were invaluable to the success of his business, and the restaurant offered a special photo souvenir. At the same time I caught up on some shopping. 

We have also enjoyed seeing more Giants games, and taking more Yoga classes. We learned a little more Italian this week too from another of Loren’s Mom’s frequently used phrases:
     Chi mancava ancora quella.
She taught us that it means something like, That’s all we need, or, Just one more thing. It taught me too how I cannot always trust online translation tools. Here is what one of them suggested: chi means who, mancava means was missing, ancora for still, and quella for that. Who was missing still that? It just does not accurately translate!

Now we are visiting overnight with friends who share our passion and interest in long term travel. We have had two enthralling evenings and one stimulating day of sharing our favorite places that we have visited over our lives and especially our four+ years and their seven+ months experiences. We are also exploring our next places of interest to visit, and just sharing about meaningful life experiences we have all had. We are enjoying being in their lovely home, which they too plan to rent out while they travel. Currently it is decorated with many attractive pieces of art that come from Africa, which is from where one of our friends hails, and reminds me so much of our visits to Africa. And, they have a remarkable yard where they can sit and enjoy seeing the seasons change and where birds come to nest annually.

We also so enjoyed toasting to their retirement that we learned was just a day new on the day we arrived! One interesting coincidence is how the bottle they chose to especially celebrate with is both a honey infused flavor – reminiscent of Loren’s and my recent time in Australia and perhaps the destination of their next adventure, and, the name of the drink is the same as a Servas host to Loren and me when we visited Freiburg, Germany.

Dear Family and Friends, I am still writing here weekly because, although Loren and I are settled down in one spot in California – near Loren’s Mom, we are not in our home in San Jose. We are keeping our house rented out because our plan is to continue to travel in the future… So, in my mind, we are still on our Journey Toward Wholeness. I hope you will indulge me in my keeping a running commentary here, Loren and I always appreciate your comments and input!

We have settled into an exercise routine of my taking near daily yoga classes, and Loren takes class on alternate days as he prefers riding his bicycle on the others. We have enjoyed watching several San Francisco Giants games with Loren’s Mom.

This week there was the beginning of the “Battle of the Bay” with the Giants facing the Oakland A’s in San Francisco for three games. This coming week they will finish the series with three more games to play in Oakland.

In between this series sandwich was the All Stars game in Washington, DC. Did you watch it too? Our Giant’s Shortstop Brandon Crawford participated, our Catcher, Buster Posey while chosen bailed out to treat a physical injury, and our First Baseman, Brandon Belt sadly just missed making the final cut. The excitement of the game was the amazing number of Home Runs that were hit – 10 in all, which is a phenomenal record. I have some old letters that my Mom and Dad wrote to each other during their courtship, and I was amused that my father would include how his beloved Yankees were doing. Watching the games and writing about them now brings up more dear memories of him.

While watching the All Star game, we saw for the first time LavAzza coffee commercials. Loren’s Mom was tickled that the company is located in Torino – Turin, Italy, which is the capital city of the province, Piemonte or Piedmont in English where her parents were both born. She said out loud that she would have to try it, and this week I made a point to purchase a package for her. The company actually has a variety of roasts to choose from in our local supermarket. She was pleased with the Classico Medium Roast version that I bought, and interested to find that the company has been around since 1895.

While on the subject of Italy, one evening Loren’s Mom had left the room where she, Loren, his sister and I often watch the TV together. It was just she and I at the point when she returned to find me reading Loren’s college Italian textbook. She asked a long question in Italian that I did not understand. So I automatically just asked her,

     Come stai? meaning, How are you?

as I had learned from friends in Italy. She seemed impressed. The next time she found me reading the book later in the week, she asked me the same long question, which this time I asked her what she had said and what it meant. 

     Come vano tutti e afari? or, How’s everything?

and she taught me the proper reply is,

    Molto bene, meaning, Very well.

One third evening this week, she sat in her TV chair turned to me, said

     Come vano tutti e afari?

When I replied, Molto bene, she was delighted. As I write this, I realize I could also say Molto bene, grazie, meaning Very well, thank you. Or I could also say Molto bene, signora, or Molto bene, Mama. I believe I will have many more opportunities to learn more Italian  while we are here.

I remember now when Loren and I were visiting in Italy how our young adult friends lamented in English their belief that the Italian language will one day go by the wayside. Their reasoning is first, that English is now required professionally for them, but the other, is that sadly they see it takes too long to express the same concept in Italian to the much shorter words – and I must add, much less melodious – in English. I am grateful to have the privilege to practice Italian with Loren and his Mom.

We have a couple of days of not being with Loren’s Mom now. One evening we went for a hike in the Lake Chabot Regional Park which we can access by taking a short walk from our AirBnB. Today we are looking forward to a dear friend coming to visit us here and we will take her to enjoy a hike in this park too. 

I must mention how while we are less than an hour – when there is no traffic, haha – from San Jose, it continues to be the ten degrees colder that I noticed when Loren and I were dating. And, it is more often foggy than the weather of our beloved South Bay. We have been enjoying waking up to sunshine these past few weeks, but this week was a different story. We have now had cool mornings from fog, more and lower fog, and more and thicker fog on each subsequent day seen from our bedroom window. The nice thing is that the sun eventually burns it off by the time the yoga class is over.

This week I will finish by sharing the inspiring quote I found on my older niece’s music therapy business card that she gave me when I was in New York:

     Music is the Medicine of the Mind 

I so agree! I found online that these words are attributed to John Alexander Logan, a nineteenth century soldier, orator and politician, and he is the one who called for Decoration Day – a national day of remembrance for Civil War dead – what we celebrate now as Memorial Day.

Uncannily, Loren and I had tickets for a local music performance last night thanks to a friend of a friend suggesting it. The concert’s title was Six Continents of Music – understandable as there is no music to pull from Antarctica. We were delighted with the evening, reminiscing over songs or similar songs as we have sung with our own UU congregation choir, to familiar songs from our youth, to songs new to us, and, songs that reminded us very much of our travels. Thanks to which, I was able to immediately realize that Cancao Da Costureirinha was a Portuguese piece. My top three favorites if I have to choose were Evening Prayer, Nella Fantasia, and their Pentatonix version of Royals. Loren’s were Born Free, Mambo Italiano, and Tafta Hindi. It was a fun evening being entertained by talented singers and musicians.

Baseball, exercise, family, friends, Italian, music – life is still good.