Elegance

I am sitting on our sofa in the midst of backpacks, changes of clothes, sleeping bags, thermarests.  Allen is an elegant packer.  He has plotted out a menu of that includes eggs, bacon, chicken with peppers, dried mango with figs.  We are going to feast on this after our backpacking hike to the basin of Fossil Creek. 


It’s a 1300 foot elevation change and we expect to find springs, water falls, and many people and horses on our trail.  


Louie is grabbing Allen’s forearm in his mouth, trying to join in on the fun.  The desert winds have calmed to April breezes and we have thrown the window wide open in our massage therapy classroom.  Even the dour member of my class got captured by giggles today.


The Earth herself seems to be cracking open in full abundance with generous display.  The days are stretching all the way to evening and beginning even before my 5:30 trek to the local gym.  Tomorrow I will carry by bed, a few comforts and words, and tasty treats on my back and live sufficiently by the limestone caves and rivers.  I hope I discover that I enjoy the process there as much as I will enjoy the arrival.  There is an elegance to that new work in my life.


Massage therapy school is definitely a process.  I discover that of late I am not so intimidated by tight and furious trapezius (would the plural be trapezeii?) muscles as I am curious about how to find the magic maneuver for release.  I still love the narrative unfolding beneath my touch in connective tissue, ropy muscles, and the words that tumble out with my engagement of them.  


I am receiving some acupuncture treatment from a most generous and elegant woman.  She brings to her practice intrigue about the spiritual journey of her clients as well as what the body is displaying. I aspire to so aptly make connections between the two in dialogue with others as she does with me.  She uses a different vocabulary from my traditional lingo in churchspeak, and I find it liberating and exciting to hear a broader narrative and to begin already to transition into a ‘chinese medicine perspective’ of addressing matters of heart, mind, spirit and flesh.

We enjoyed a visit from Carlton, Carol, and nieces and nephews over Easter weekend.  What a trip it was to hide Easter eggs and have a desert egg hunt!  Carlton and Carol are very creative in their handling of family traditions on the road, through the air, and on the trail to dinosaur tracks and sinagua ruins.  Here are a few photos of my beautiful family: