I Have Lived in Some Remarkable Places

Oregon 1985

​I have lived in some remarkable places. 
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After Brian and I met and wrote letters back and forth for five months, we decided to do a three month bicycle trip together. We wanted to live together to train and get ready for the bike trip. Brian's friend Peter offered his home on the Calapooia River in Oregon.

Sometimes I am surprised to hear how younger people want to become "back-to-the-landers" because it felt like it was out natural lifestyle in 1985. We had solar power, a composting toilet, a greenhouse and a wood cookstove. A goat was often present on the property.

That river - the Calapooia - fed my soul - and I was so grateful to live there. I recall one night sitting by the Calapooia and knowing in my heart it was time to tell Brian that I wanted to be with him.

He was in the loft after I came back from the river. I was feeling the fear of commitment - more likely the fear of rejection - but my knowing has always won over my fear. Eventually. I expressed my fear that I would want to venture out (and would he, could he stand for that?) I was already moving to Ohio without him. And I had been to Alaska, Europe and other places.

As my words came out - Brian - the anchor that he has always been - said he would be there for me - wherever life took me. This same conversation happened many more times, each time the knowing growing that it was time to jump the next wave, and the fear that reaching for my desires would break us apart. I studied dance in New Mexico one summer. with a week of weeping after I had made the decision. I went to the biological field school at Put-In-Bay over two summers. I danced at Omega Institute in New York while he travelled with the girls. The day I met Swamiji I held onto Brian and cried the whole night feeling that my world had unalterably shifted.  For the past 15 years after finding my Guru, I travelled  to India many times on an inner journey and search - a search that often upended our lives. I am astounded at how we were brought together and how life flowed for us. I am eternally grateful for both of our courage, for Brian's stability and our efforts over these years. 
​Song of the Day Louis Armstrong What A Wonderful World www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3yCcXgbKrE