Friday December 18, 2009
5am - Up and at 'em. Gaeir wanted to sleep until the last possible moment, but I felt like a kid on Christmas morning… a week early. I finished stuffing the last of this month's Eckankar newsletter envelopes as I drank my morning coffee, and then began packing the truck. I've talked a little about Eckankar in one or more of my other stories, but I'll do it again here. Don't worry, I'll be brief… this is not gonna be a spiritual soapbox story. These are my words, and may not be exactly correct, I am still in the infancy stage of my education in this religion:
Eckankar is a 'new age' religion, based on the (very) ancient teachings that go back to the period long before Jesus 'walked' this planet. There are many similarities (in my opinion) between Christianity and Eckankar, but there are a few substantial differences, which I will try to outline for you now… briefly.
1. Eckankar not only teaches about 'god's light' but also 'god's sound.' The word they use for this sound is "HU" (pronounced hue), and is the basic foundation of the religion… some say not only the most important part, but really the only part that matters. This sound is 'sung' as part of the meditative portion of their services and at almost any other time the follower, or student, or 'chela' (pronounced chee-la) wishes or desires. Usually it is sung as a single note, but when done with others… can be sung in some very beautiful harmonies (and sometimes not so beautiful, but the not so splendid dissonance when this happens can be useful, as a way to 'see the beauty in all things.'
2. The chelas also believe that there is a 'living master' who speaks the 'word of The Eck.' The current master is a man named Harold Klemp. He's been 'in place' for about 40 years, and will soon name his successor. They also believe that this man can be 'your inner master', and communicate with you as you 'soul travel.' A term they use for what I call 'visualization' or the 'power of positive thinking.'
3. The last difference I will talk about now is that they believe in reincarnation, and believe that everyone who is alive at the present time has a soul, which has 'lived' thousands of times in the past. This leads to karma (or dharma as I would call it, because it refers to something other than this 'current' lifetime), which says that the circumstances that we are dealing with now, is directly related to our actions of a past life. I will end this discourse with one of my favorite 'lines' of all times:
"Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you."
So… back to the morning packing… getting ready for our departure: Fortunately the parking lot at the top of our driveway was empty, so I had plenty of room to bring my truck up the hill. That saved about 30 minutes and about 300 calories. It's not a long driveway, but it's pretty steep. I guess Christmas break had already started at the University, and since all our neighbors are students, they must've left early to be with their families.
I'm continuing to enjoy the young energy from our neighbors, but there are a few things that are starting to get old. The main one is the way the (don't) take care of their garbage. I’m continuing to leave baggies of cigarette butts with notes attached, asking the 'offending parties' to please 'pack their own trash'. The associated problem is the cans. We live at the top of a short driveway, and it seems very difficult for all the other households to remember to take their cans down and then bring them back up each week. I have my phone alarm set to remind me every week… it's not rocket science. All in all though, I have to say… they seem to be good kids… polite and amazingly quiet in the evening hours, and that is worth a lot, in my book.
7:30am - G is up and slowly getting at 'em. She is not nearly the morning person that I am, and I am slowly learning that I need to be careful with her, for the first hour or so, after she wakes up. Actually, I'm learning I have to be careful with her in general, and at all times. She is not fragile by any means, but it helps me to think of her like a china doll, because normally I'm very much like a bull in a china shop. She didn't tell me until later that day, that my gentle coaxing and prodding didn't help her do what she had to do any faster, and in fact made her anxious and nervous.
She says this anxiety is based on her early childhood memories of her mother picking her up off the floor, without any warning, and taking her away for some other kind of activity. I told her my memories of these types of things are more of excitement that I got to do something new and different, while she remembers being sad or even mad that she was not able to finish the project she was working on. G was a very precocious child… I'm sure of that.
My attempt at helping her that morning by asking her to tell me when her bags where ready to take out to the truck was enough to set her off… poor darlin'. I am so lucky to have been raised by perfect parents… I have NO quirks or idiosyncrasies in my personality. I am the easiest person in the world to get along with. Ha.
8:42am - Off and away, only 12 minutes late. We didn't have, or want to have, any specific schedule for this trip, but there was a long time family friend expecting us in Walnut Creek at 10am, and she said she'd get up early to meet us, so I didn't want to cut into her sleeping time and then not show up as scheduled.
Virginia has been my 'step-mom' since mine died about 8 years ago. She and her husband were friends with my family long before I was even born, and they continued their relationship throughout the decades. Her kids grew up with my older brothers and sister, and their kids and I are now continuing the family friendship. Her daughter Terry is now Virginia's 'caregiver', as she ages… very gracefully.
12:30pm - We spent two wonderful hours with them, and I hope it will not be the last time I see my 'mom' again. Now, we're heading north on I-505… next stop Weed, just north of Redding, to visit and stay with Rand and Kathy, two of G's friends she knows thru Eckankar.
We didn't have anything to eat before we left, and only nibbled on the lemon and coffee cakes that Terry had set out for us, so G said she wanted a snack and me asked if I had remembered to pack the berries and cottage cheese.
I said yes to that question, but that was the easy one. The next question made my shoulders droop. "Did you remember to rinse off the berries?" My silence gave her my answer, and then her shoulders drooped. G has a very sensitive system, and the preservatives that are applied to the berries when they're packaged upset her stomach. She's told me that before. Several times.
But as is G's natural character, she didn't even give the slightest indication that she was upset. She just sighed quietly, and asked if we could stop someplace convenient, so she could get a snack.
Then she looked at me intently. I could feel her looking at me, and when I turned towards her, she was smiling a knowing kind of smile. "What?" I said. She smiled bigger and told me, "I had a dream last night that someone had tried to poison me."
I escaped with a perfect seg-way… I told her that while I was looking for mistletoe the other day to bring with us, I found out that it was poisonous. She graciously let the subject of my attempted murder go, and asked if I had found any. When I said, "No", she started pointing at the trees along the freeway… it was everywhere!
We stopped at a rest stop that had some oak trees and got out. We found a clump of it growing in a tree right next to the restrooms, but it was too high for us to reach it. I told the Caltrans worker who was doing some landscaping, that I'd love to do some tree trimming for him, and explained my idea to break off the limb with the mistletoe on it, with my rope and a rock tied to the end of it. He politely told me no.
4:30pm - We got to Weed 30 minutes early, and had to kick around town for a while. I thought it would be fun to pay a visit to the Mt. Shasta Brewing Company, but discovered that not only does G not drink… she is allergic to the smell of it. I thought about asking her to stuff some Kleenex in her nostrils, but decided not to risk the first day of our adventure by pushing her twice.
As it turned out, I was able to upset her anyway, when I bought a bottle of beer and drank it while we were playing on some 'rides' at a local park.
Her discomfort with and around alcohol seems to be the biggest problem for us so far. We come form different extremes on this issue… me from the 'socially acceptable' end of the scale where having a beer or a cocktail is not frowned on, and her from the end where having even one serving creates worry and stress.
We're both having difficulties understanding the other person's point of view, but are both more than willing to keep our minds open. Our discussions… including current and past experiences used as stepping-stones to explain ourselves… continues to stay cordial and even enjoyable.
That's one of the greatest joys of having a girlfriend like G. She has yet to express any of her feelings with anything other than a calm and steady voice. It's new for me to have a partner who isn't emotional to the point of volatility. It continues to be a joy to be around her… her even keel and composed attitude is MUCH more conducive for me, and is a better motivating force for me to want to modify my behavior. I've always been the kind of a person who believes an open hand is better than a closed fist. Good thing I have sensitivity to go along with my stubbornness.
7:30pm - We were already settling into our guest room above our hosts' garage, after a pleasant meal of salad and soup. G told Kathy she could eat that way for every meal the rest of her life. I cringed. I need meat… red meat… at least once or twice a week. G calls me her "pet wolf", and wolves eat meat.
10:00pm - My 'prayer for some lovin' was answered… and after about an hour of post coital chit-chat… we fell soundly asleep in each other's arms.
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