Halp I is being raptured!

By Cassandra Speaking.

So by this time tomorrow the Rapture will be underway.  At least if you believe the lunatic ramblings of an almost 90 year old repeat failure of a prophet.  Twice before he's predicted the date of the rapture with utterly NO success whatsoever.  For a while he was claiming the world was going to end in 1988.

We see how well that went over now didn't we?  Wasn't it so much fun?

Apparently it was so much fun he went back to his magic book and saw the error of his ways and predicted it was actually going to end in March of 1994.  While the early 90's so the implosion of the tech bubble, and resulting economic slide on wall street, 1994 was otherwise unremarkable.  During March he said there was some leeway in the numbers and waited all month for the end to come.

It didn't.  Again!

So here we are now on the eve of the most famous undate in history.  Tomorrow he claims is really, truly, without question, the end of history.  Thus, an undate, since no one worthy of remembering will be around long to remember it.   "Good by my friends, I'll see you all in the great beyond."  I like so many other "people" haven't bothered to pay any of my bills, or put my affairs in order, because the entire world ends tomorrow.  Not just tomorrow, but right after work at 18:00 hours local time.

I hope you'll all join me here Sunday morning as the reports start coming in of people all over the globe drinking the sacramental koolade because they missed the bus.

I predict that tomorrow will go down in history as a famous date.  The date that Harold Camping will forever be known as a three time loser.  You see he's the very self important little man who has predicted the last two spectacularly failed end of the world dates.  Tomorrow at around 19:00 local time, when nothing at all has happened, he'll end up being ranked right up there with "Chicken Little" and the "Boy Who Cried Wolf."

I feel kinda bad for Harold and his followers, because even I know that God has made it clear that the end will come without warning, fanfare, public appearance spots, or any media coverage whatsoever.

I as a Buddhist and former ascended master, who has studied many of earths religions, and was last "risen up" or "raised up" sometime before Christ came, know that there's more than one way to scramble an egg.   Or, perhaps a better way of putting it?  It's fairly simple these days to get from New York to San Fransisco.  There are as many, or more ways to get from here to there than there are days in a month.  So too with reaching the next plane of existence.  After all I've been there, and back.

I'm sorry but it's the height of hubris for one insignificant little man, who has somehow more money and motivated self importance than brain cells, to decide he knows when the end is going to come.  Especially given the numbers involved.  Right now there are around 6 BILLION (with a B) human beings on Earth.  I know for a fact that some one sixth of all those humans follow one of the many flavors of Buddhism, I mean there at least a billion Buddhists on Mainland China for example.  That doesn't count the rest of South East Asia, Japan, and significant parts of India.  Then we have those of the Hindu faith, which is similar in many ways and flavors to Buddhism, and if nothing else, certainly NOT Christianity.  Then there are our Muslim brothers and sisters, who while the don't believe as we do, certainly don't believe what Harold does.  So for good measure lets throw in the Catholics who KNOW, because God has told them so, that no one will know when the end is coming.  Oh, and while we are adding people in who don't believe, lets add the Jews, Protestants, Baptists, Wiccan's, and who else for good measure?  How about the Krishnas?  Who else?

Well see that's the thing, the vast majority of people don't believe what Harold does.  They believe their God of gods doesn't work that way.  Many of them believe a harbinger of the end times, but not a set date, will include quite a show, a new world order, the coming of the Anti-Christ, and much more.  While many have claimed that Sarah Palin is the Anti-Christ, I don't think she's smart enough for that.  Sorry Sarah, but your just not smart enough for that.  That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.  It's also my opinion that Harold Camping is an idiot.  I mean he's even dumber than Sarah Palin, and you really have to work hard to be that vapid.

But I digress.  Yes, I'm a Buddhist, but I'm not a perfect Buddhist, and admit so much of this tome is NOT right speech.  Then again, it's not supposed to be, since this is only my tiny little irrelevant opinion, and I freely admit having fallen from grace, ON PURPOSE, after having already once achieved ascension.

So Sunday afternoon as you're relaxing enjoying a day off, please feel free to join this me in saying "Harold Camping, You ARE The weakest link, Goodbye."

This is Casandra Speaking for Forward Views, all of tomorrows news, today.

Well that went exceptionally well. NOT!

So after a suitable disclaimer, and careful wording so as to not get anyone's panties in a bunch, my last comment was rewarded with five pages of shall we say some interesting comments.  Comments I'm NOT go publish to protect the author from her own madness and my own attempts to keep from making things worse as she's doing more than a good enough job of that herself periodically ranting on her own blog.  If anyone is refusing to leave things in the past and move on, it would have to be her, because I refuse to be baited.

That said, for those poor souls who have somehow connected all the dots together, please keep in mind that ever story has two sides, and it takes two to tango.  There are also times and places when it's impossible to find the truth because it's a subjective thing.  Some people consider verbal abuse just part of living and don't really consider it "real" abuse.  These are often the same people who accuse rape victims of "asking for it" by how they look, act, or simply for being alive.  Reality check here, verbal abuse IS, IN FACT, ABUSE.  Period, end of subject.  It's violence, and when within a relationship, it's domestic violence.  Period.

Often these people are in a world of their own and their own self important ends, justify the means.

My brother is a perfect example.

He uses people.  It's been his whole life.  He's a violent, self important little shell of a person who twists everything to convince himself he's right.  I fell into the trap of that kind of abuse for year, and all allowed him to take from me without ever even trying to contribute anything while making everything about him.  At a point in his life when he had once again fallen out of a relationship because of his own mental health issues and abusive tendencies I gave him a place to live, feed him, in fact wound up fully supporting him because he wasn't even trying.  At all.  He had this self important view of the universe where everything was about him, how people owed him, how it was my responsibility at the time to provide for all his needs even at the expense of my own.  He had to have everything I did, everything was about keeping score for him.  Mind you I was in fact supporting him completely, and his wants and needs were more important than my own, even if it meant rent on the apartment, car insurance, or whatever.  He'd get a notion, I'd have to drop what I was doing, give him what he wanted and needed whether I could afford it or not, just so that he'd stop abusing me verbally.  It was no way to live, and a mistake I went on to make again with my late husband.  Suggest that either of them pull their own weight, or even contribute to make life a bit easier?  That only brought more abuse.  My brother was (and is to this day) chronically unwilling and incapable of supporting himself or even getting a simple job so as not to be a complete drain on my life.

Me, over the years I was more than willing to work in grocery stores or fast food joints if I had to, because they will hire anyone.  He had a mountain of excuses why he couldn't.  Not one of them was a real, viable concern, but he'd decided that he couldn't get a job there.  He came up with plenty of things he demanded I get him that he really didn't need, but he had to have them.  Rent and the utilities were supposed to magically pay themselves and it didn't matter if giving him what he wanted meant I wouldn't have enough for the bills, that was after all MY problem, not his.  Like cigarettes for example.  He smoked, I didn't, but spending the last 20 dollars before payday on a carton of cigarettes was more important than putting gas in my car to get to work, or keep groceries in the house or whatever it was.

And the keeping score thing drove me crazy.  I'd put new tires on my car and he'd have to have new tires on his truck.  Didn't matter that one tire for his truck was the price of all four tires on my car.  He had to have what he wanted.  Whatever I got for myself he had to have better and more.  Even if it meant I had to suffer, after all, I OWED him.  Get a job to contribute to the household?  Hell no.  His ex-wife had the same problem with him after I finally had more than enough and moved.   The whole reason I wound up supporting him is because he'd broken up with his girlfriend at the time because she got tired of supporting him and his sense of entitlement and abuse.

Moving away and sharing a place with a friend where my brother wasn't welcome was the only way I could escape.  That's when he found someone else to leach from and married that poor woman.  She and I became friends, and no big shock when she started trying to get him to get a job and help support the household, all the excuses came back.

And Earl, well I've talked about him before.  His answer to everything was running back to his parents and making ME look like I was crazy and not working hard enough.  I was at the time handling all his medical care, working a full time six figure job, being a housewife, and staying up to date on the latest research that could help make his life easier.  Him get a job?  Heavens no, better to run back to Mommy and make ME look like I was the lazy good for nothing leach.

I don't understand people that think the world, or someone else, owes them a living.  I never have, and never will.  That goes equally for people who twist reality to fit their views and blame someone else for things that happen to them.   I assure you that if my brother were to read this, he'd send me pages of excuses why I'm work, and claim that I was wrong, or twisting things.  So I'm not even going to try and but a disclaimer in here, should someone take offense to what I've written, keep in mind I'm keeping things deliberately vague, and other than my brother, not mentioning anyone specifically.

I'm suddenly reminded of my divorce.  Earl accused me of costing him friends, because people we'd know, or that he'd known, wanted nothing to do with him when they found out his true colors so to speak.  He'd even insisted that some of our mutual friends choose him or me.  I on the other hand refused to stoop to that level of nonsense.  So the friends he forced to choose said, well She's (me) not forcing us to choose, but you are, so we'll choose her, goodbye if you're going to be that way.  Yeah that went exceptionally well.  NOT!

Long unsaid, even longer unasked . . .

So I'm going to start with some questions.

1:)  You and your significant other (SO) are out walking with your children, one of whom is under age five, and your SO and youngest child have long since grown tired of walking and want to head back to your car.  You want to continue on to your destination and then go back to the car.

Do you:   A:)  Get into an argument and stomp off with your two older children leaving your SO and younger child to fend for themselves all alone?  Especially when you know for a fact that your SO has no idea where she is and has no sense of direction?

               B:)  Agree that heading back, getting your youngest and spouse safely back to your car is more important so that they are safe, secure and protected?  Then maybe if your SO and child is up to it drive to your destination?

2:)  You have, for whatever reasons, "concerns" about your SO communicating with a friend.

Do you:   A:)  Sit down with your SO and have an adult conversation where you attempt to work things out and end up closer through understanding?

               B:)  Take a systematic and obsessive approach to monitoring all your SO's mail, email, text and phone activities?

3:)  You and your SO have a scheduling conflict, your SO needs to get to work to continue earning a living so that you, your SO, and children can all continue to live.  You SO has also made plans for her lunch hour that require a car.  Your SO owns a own car, you do not.  A friend offers to drive whomever needs it to where ever they need to go on the day in question.

Do you:   A:)  Graciously accept the friends assistance and make arrangements to get everyone where they need to go safely?

               B:)  Do you insist that your SO take the day off from work, cancel the lunch plans they had with another friend, and take your SOs car to where you  want or need to go?

4:)  You and your SO are at lunch in a public place.  You have a disagreement over something.

Do you:  A:)  Agree to table the question for the moment and wait until you get home?

               B:)  Do you make a public spectacle of yourself, argue with your SO, stomp off, pouting, looking pissed, and refuse to communicate with your SO or anyone else until you get your own way?

5:)  Your SO expresses some concerns about you having control over ever second of her life and smothering her and wants a bit of healthy space.

Do you:   A:)  Break down in hysterics, cry and justify what you are doing and guilt your SO into shutting up and letting the abuse continue because you know exactly which of her buttons to push.

                B:)  Do you talk about it like adults, and find a healthier balance?

6:)  A mutual friend expresses concerns that someone they know may be engaging in unhealthy, unsafe and quite possibly abusive and even criminal behaviour.  Your friend makes a general comment in a public forum that she is concerned about two friends of hers maybe in an abusive relationship, without saying anything of detail to anyone.  You suspect she might mean you.

Do you:   A:)  Leave it be, and wait to see what's going on.

               B:)  Demand accountability from your friend and harass and abuse her mercilessly until she says something?

7:)  Your friend, after being abused into saying something before she is ready has said something you disagree with, you then send her an email giving excuses for why you are doing the things you do.  In it you admit to breaking the law and abusing your spouse.  You have long ago decided it's justifiable to abuse and harass someone until they see your point of view as being acceptable because, they are after all wrong.   She calls you on it.

Do you:  A:)  Step up the abuse and violence on all fronts until you get what you want?  Un-friend her, continue to talk complete trash about her, taking things out of context in a very public pogrom of violence and disinformation making her look like a being of pure evil?  Do you privately FORBID your SO to talk to her?

              B:)  Acknowledge there may be problems and try to work on them?

The way I was raised, the way I feel, have always felt, is nothing is more important than the safety and happiness of my family.  NOTHING.  My spouse, my children, their needs are my needs, their safety and happiness is mine.  I treat, or try to treat, all my friends with a level of respect and courtesy I wish to be afforded.  I treasure my friends and when one of them is unhappy, I too am unhappy and do whatever I can to be supportive.  When I disagree with someone who then becomes abusive, the most I'll do is establish a healthier set of boundaries. Occasionally in the process of setting these boundaries while being forced, through abuse, to see the light, I'll allow passion to loosen my tongue enough to say something long enough to get someone to leave me alone.  But I won't then go on the warpath in public attempting to smear and discredit my friend as an unstable, medal some, harlot out for her own evil purposes.  I will not slander my friend all while painting myself as a rosy, perfect child of innocence and love, much maligned by evil.  I certainly will not start talking about a religion of love, and tolerance that stresses treating others with respect, kindness and grace all while ranting about someone else's unsubstantiated evil.  I will not willingly, let alone intentionally cause others pain and suffering through constant ranting in a public forum while claiming to be part of a religion that eschews allowing others to suffer, directly or indirectly because of my actions.  I certainly won't assign someone a fictional label and then continue using her as an excuse for everything that goes wrong in my life.  I will state that under the US Telecommunications Privacy Act, wiretaping, or otherwise invading someone else's electronic privacy is in fact a Federal Crime regardless of why one does it.  I will also state that under Federal Law, tempering with someone else's mail is also a Federal Crime regardless of who it is, or why it's done.

*Disclaimer:  This post is not meant to resemble anyone real or otherwise in any way, any possible resemblance to anyone living is entirely coincidental.  Should someone take offense, or find resemblance I have but to ask one further question.  Guilty conscience much?  No names or fictitious labels have been used in the creation of this document to protect the innocent and will neither confirm, nor deny, any resemblance of events within to real events or people.

A very BIG bird!

A very BIG bird!

Today I'm flying around Winton, and there's this one stretch on the west side of the lake right by Winton Road that just opens up. Over the bridge, then it drops of and swings down and along.

I LOVE the feeling of flying, especially this stretch, so I'll often lean back in the seat, straighten my back fully and bring my arms up and out to the side palms down as I go whipping along this one stretch.

So today I'm doing just this and I go flying past a couple walking on the path and I hear, "Oh my god, you look like an elegant bird flying along!" That's exactly how it felt.

I passed this same couple on another loop and said thank you!

So, while wandering around I noticed...

So, while wandering around I noticed...

...something on my friend Eu's page that I thought was a good idea. So I just invested the time in putting together a before and after virtual model of myself that will help me keep my eyes on the prize so to speak.



On the left, pretty much were I am now, on the right where I want to be!

A Christmas Tree riding a bike...

A Christmas Tree riding a bike...

Today was just too beautiful NOT to ride, and I was itching for some of those good post ride drugs my body makes. It was also St. Patrick's day. So when I kitted up for the ride, I made sure I was wearing the green. A mean with an Irish last name like mine the only way to be more Irish is to buy a house in Ireland, apply for dual citizenship and have an Irish Passport.

Anyway. I have a lovely green top on my cycling shorts, a fanny pack to hold my phone and keys and the red blinky things clipped on to the fanny pack belt. You know, the red blinky things that get drivers attention so that hopefully they will avoid hitting me?

When I'm riding local streets I take a route the is mostly right turns, so it cuts down on the number of times I have to do major street crossings. My route takes me through a little section of town where in warmer weather people are sitting outside. For whatever reason I tend to attract people, like a bug like I'm told. One friend says I have this amazing, bright, powerful aura that draws people to me. Whatever it is, I attract folks. It almost always leads to a cheering section of locals as I go flying past, sometimes I'll be neighborly, stop and chat a bit.

One such local is Chuck. Last year he started cheering me on and wanted to chat, so on the next loop I hit pause on my tracker, and stopped a bit. That of course made me even more popular with Chuck. I mean he's a guy, so anytime a cute girl (his words, not mine) is willing to stop and talk he remembers. So of course today he gives me a cheer as I fly by and then as I pass him he sees the red blinkys on my belt and hollers, "Hey, Sam, you look like a Christmas tree!"

Yeah, when I thought about it, I could see his point. Nice green blouse, red blinkys flashing, or course I look like a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree riding a bike! But as I headed for home with the glow of happy drugs filling my body from the work out, I couldn't help but giggle.

Getting jazzed for the 2011 riding season!

Getting jazzed for the 2011 riding season!

So last year I bought a new, 2010 Specialized Women's Myka HT mountain bike and started riding again after decades of inactivity.

It was hell at first. I picked Serenity up March 27th of last year and took her up to Winton Woods to ride it around the lake. It's 1.75 miles to make one lap around. That first day it took me more than an hour. I stopped and sat on several benches a bunch of times.



I fell on my bum a bunch of times, was in serious pain, and had bruises all over me for weeks afterwards. I'd promised all my friends I was going to start out slow and easy and limit myself to five miles on that first day. Well my first lap was SO bad, and I forgot to turn on my GPS tracking feature I didn't even count it. So I set about my second lap and made better time on that one. Only stopped twice on my second lap. Third lap I stopped once, and by my fourth lap, I made it around without stopping at all. Yay me!!!

From that point on I just kept getting better, riding further, and improving my pace. My goal early on was to ride 500 miles before November 1st rolled around. Early July came and I was well on my way to blowing past 500 miles so I doubled my goal. By November I'd made it to 1000 miles and was up to 12 miles per hour average pace and was doing longer rides without stopping or falling on my bum.

My friend Laura, who was cheering on my on and a long time cyclist herself had been trying to get me to move to Tucson Arizona for the sun and single track trails there hatched a plan to get me down there for a visit. So I spent most December and January in Tucson getting really dirty. Really dirty, cut up and bruised because all that sand there was something I so wasn't ready for and trying to keep up with Laura caused me to wreck several times. Serenity wasn't all that happy either, and on the third crash I thought I'd badly damaged her.

Thankfully, Serenity survived mostly unscathed, and she and I went on to more rides in the sun while still there. Monday I took her in to get her tuned up, checked over and ready for this year. After the wrecks in Arizona she was still unhappy, the wheels were rubbing and she was, well filthy. With March 27th right around the corner my one year new bike service plan was about to expire so I really needed to get her in to the shop.



Montgomery Cyclery is where I landed after some serious research. They were patient, amazingly helpful and NOT pushy. I went in knowing I wanted a new bike and after having looked at their website extensively I thought I knew what I wanted. They showed me what I was considering and answered all my questions. They also had a sale coming up and suggested I wait until the sale and save even more. Also helped me look at other bikes, even better bikes that would be in my price range during the sale. So while it was sort of an up sell, it was one in my favor. Another reason I chose them was the store itself. It has this calm, quiet, peaceful air to it that reminds me of a library. So that alone was a major selling point in their favor.

The staff there is great, and when I took Serenity in Rob looked at her and said "I can see your worries about not getting enough use out of her to justify the cost wasn't that much of an issue after all. Where have you been riding, because that's a lot of dirt." So they took her in and went over her with a fine tooth comb so to speak. When I went to pick her up Joe looked at me and said "You know your tires are showing a bunch of wear, do you commute to work on your bike?" I laughed and said no, that's just pleasure riding. He looked confused and said "But this is less than a year old, you just got it. That's a bunch of riding." I assured him it was just shy of 1200 miles, that I was going to shoot for 1500 miles this year. "You might need new tires before then" he joked.

So Serenity is clean, and back in proper shape, and tomorrow and Friday promise to be ideal for riding and I'm going to be out in the sun and warm weather loving my bike and reveling in the feeling of peace, of Serenity I have with the wind in my hair and the hum of the tires beneath me.

Self control . . .

So I had one of my periodic cravings for chocolate that wasn't chocolate milk and realized I'd left my Premium Triple Chocolate M&M's at Laura's house in Tucson.  I had this momentary panic that there was no chocolate other than the drinkable kind in the house, which would be nearly unheard of for me.  Then it dawned on me back in December I got a quarter pound of fudge from the General Store on top of Mt. Lemmon.  And that most certainly DID make it home with me.

Out of the 1/8 of a pound of raspberry chocolate swirl fudge, and 1/8 lb pure chocolate fudge I bought I still have more than half of both of those.  So I took a slice of the one, let it slowly melt in my mouth, then the other and let that melt in my mouth, but them back in the ziplock, and back in the box.

I think it's all the years of mediation and mindfullness.  I can make a bag of premium M&M's last months and often do.  The Mt. Lemmon fudge will also be around for months, because when I take that little bit on my tongue, it's a timeless moment as the taste and texture slowly unfolds in my mouth.  Food for me in ways is like wine, or even sex, best if slowly savored over a long period of time.

Some folks envy my self control, I think it's just me being selfish in an odd way.  I cannot afford much, and despite having made simply obscene amounts of money once upon a time I've always lavished it on other people and not myself.  So I tend to savor the moments when they come.

If you're ever in Tucson Arizona, and can make it up to Mt. Lemmon and the general store there, by all means get some of the fudge.  It's some of the best I've had and that's saying something, given that I grew up in New England with some of the best fudge in the world at hand.

While I don't really consider Mt. Lemmon a mountain, it does sport some breath taking vistas, has a wonderful restaurant and great general store, I lived at higher elevations in the foothills of the Rockies when I lived in Colorado.  Now THOSE are mountains!

That said, Mt. Lemmon in the Catalina's is some serious must see territory.  And if you exercise some self control, fudge you by there will last a while. :)

Time is a river that tells no lies...

A Zen Koan I'm partial to, that was featured in an episode of Stargate SG1 reads like this:

"The river tells no lies. Though standing on the shore the dishonest man still hears them."

Taoism teach us about "Wei Wu" which is, over simplified, knowing when to act or not act.  Mind you it's not just the Tao, the concept of action, or not, is littered liberally through Eastern thought.  In various forms of martial arts for example it is often better to flow rather than block, let an opponent over extend, become unbalanced in stance and energy and use that to your advantage instead of a hard block.  Sometimes refereed to as using an opponents energy against them, it's all about knowing when to act or not to act.

Taoism will teach us not to fight the river, for we are certain to drown if we do so, but to let the river take us where it will, share with us it's lessons and then deposit us upon the shore when we are done.

Time I have known as an illusion for many years, because it either exists when I choose to observe it, or vanishes from sight when I am mindful and present.  I can and have actively in my own life chosen to absent myself from time by constructive use of mindfulness.  Doesn't matter what I was doing, the illusion of time vanished when I did not observe it, almost in support of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.  Simply stated, Heisenberg forwarded the concept that the act of observing a given event, would act to change the result of the event.  Almost like the butterfly effect talked about in popular culture.  Namely the suggestion that the flapping of a butterflies wings on one side of the world could cause a Tsunami on the other side.

Some time ago I talked about entropy being almost a safety value, working deliberately and intentionally at the quantum level, to help bring balance to the greater universe. How in that split second of the irresistible object meeting the immovable force, a timeless moment of pure peace and beauty can be had if one is open to it. 

Back to popular culture for a moment we find a subplot in the Star Trek movie "Insurrection" where Picard is being taught about timeless moments by a woman hundreds of years older than him who looks like she's younger than him.  Picard later uses what he didn't think he learned to stop time long enough to save this woman's life.  I'm reminded of Hamlet at the moment.  

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." -- Hamlet Act I, Scene IV

Which I've always understood as a particularly salient point that alludes to truth being far stranger than fiction. Having had my share of timeless moments, and mindfulness taken to the point where entire days simply vanish without effort I turned my mind toward time once again.  Especially given that I know at a quantum level it is simply a means of measurement, no more real or important than length, width or depth.  In a universe not limited to three (four) dimensions, there are multiple dimensions of time.  Going out a step further, the Multiverse (or M-Verse) theory suggests that everything and anything that possibly can happen, has happened, somewhere, somewhen.  The TV series Stargate makes great use of this concept over it's 11 year run where time is simply a vehicle for story telling, and regular crossings into alternate, parallel universes is common place.

Another "popular culture" reference that inspired this post is Garth Brook's song "The River" where he talks about the dreamer being a vessel;

You know a dream is like a river 

Ever changing as it flows 

And the dreamer's just the vessel

That must follow where it goes 

Trying to learn from what's behind you

And never knowing what's in store 

Makes each day a constant battle 

Just to stay between the shores. 

(Chorus) 

"And I will sail my vessel

'Til the river runs dry 

Like a bird upon the wind 

These waters are my sky 

I'll never reach my destination

If I never try 

So I will sail my vessel

'Til the river runs dry."

Too many times we stand aside

And let the waters slip away 

'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow

Has now become today 

So don't you sit upon the shoreline

And say you're satisfied 

Choose to chance the rapids 

And dare to dance the tide. 

(Chorus see above)

And there's bound to be rough waters

And I know I'll take some falls 

But with the good Lord as my captain

I can make it through them all. 

Yes I will sail my vessel

'Til the river runs dry 

Like a bird upon the wind 

These waters are my sky 

I'll never reach my destination

If I never try 

So I will sail my vessel

'Til the river runs dry.

Yes, I will sail my vessel

'Til the river runs dry 

'Til the river runs dry 

I woke up with this in my head this morning, it's a beautiful song in it's own right, but then it came to me, Time is a river too.  If we fight the river, we may drown, or at very least not learn from what it wishes to share with us.  If we simply stand beside the river, and let the water's slip away, we also may not benefit from the wisdom the river wishes to share with us.  Likewise, mindfulness, a form of meditation allows us to open ourselves up fully to what is around us, and simply take it all in, not judging, not shaping or forcing our will onto whatever may pass, but simply being very present in a given moment that becomes two, and four, and more, for however long one wishes to experience it.  Wu Wei, or better still, Wei Wu Wei.  Action without action.

Another Koan that comes to mind: "Put no distance between you and where you are."

In part it's about mindfulness, about being present, about the gifts the river will bring you.

Time will take one on a journey, and it will share with you what it will.  It will tell you no lies, but if you attempt to force your own views onto it, you will miss the beauty in the moments shared.

"The river tells no lies. Though standing on the shore the dishonest man still hears them."

All roads lead to the great path, many cross.

I've been growing, healing, moving in fits and starts down "the way" that leads back to the great path. When I can, rather than fight the river and surely drown, I let it take me where it will, and learn from what it shares with me.

Some years ago I met Laura because on our way to the great path, ours crossed.  We have been on and off walking for a while, working on being present.  So at one point when time and space conspired to have us within relative proximity and she suggested lunch, I agreed.  Two years ago that.  For me it was a big step.  I got up early (for me at the time) and drove the 50 miles up to Dayton from Cincinnati.  Several hours later we were both back on the road, me to "home" and her to her Dad's house.  It was a big step for me.

She's since become convinced I need to move to Tucson.  My plan has been to head home to Colorado.  I joked that I'd need to visit Tucson, explore some, get a feel for it before I'd consider it.  After all, my first move to Colorado so long ago was a result of a business trip there.  I got a taste and was hooked.  I let Earl take me from Colorado years ago, but with him gone now, my plan has been to go home one day soon.

That was two years ago.  I am not the same person I was, nor is Laura, but our relationship has grown. Last year during her annual pilgrimage to her father's house I met her in Dayton again, and had more fun.  Grew further because instead of just going up for lunch, I went up and stayed overnight at a Motel there and we had dinner and breakfast together.  Still she spoke of her enduring love for the Sonoran desert and her belief that I needed to move there.

And then she hatched an evil plot.

So December 9th after carefully planing, packing, and consulting with the weather God's, I set out in the Jumper toward her desert home.  As much about house and pet sitting while she and her boyfriend spend the holiday's with her Dad, as it was part of her evil plan to get her desert into my soul, I spent the last month there.  Yes, I drove almost four thousand miles round trip to house and pet sit.  But the logic was irrefutable.  I already knew and loved Emily (her Portie) and was certain that I'd have no problems with her other four legged people.  It would have cost her a small fortune to board them and they would have been stuck in cages and only periodically walked.  By driving down to the desert I'd be lessening their suffering, Laura would be able to rest easy and enjoy her trip knowing the wee ones were loved and free instead of locked in cages for more than a week.  It made sense all the way around.

On the 16th of January I bade farewell to the Sonoran desert and set course for my "Temporary Home" in Ohio.  The trip out and back, the more than a month I spent there, and the people I shared time with will be part of me forever.  Having now had a taste of the Sonoran desert I know I want more.  Laura's path and mine crossed some time ago, and we've been now and again walking together, even riding together, sharing what we know, and lending a hand and caring heart as we go.  You just  know I had to bring my bike with me right?  There will be more to follow on the subject, this is just a warm up.  This is just to say that Laura's evil plan has borne fruit, I enjoyed my time in the desert and all the paths of other people that crossed mine while I was there.