Please note as you read this that I am well aware that we are at least a week into March at this point (depending on your time zone and the time that I actually finish writing this blog). None the less, today was the day that I finally turned the page on my “The Gift of Zen” wall calendar to reflect the current month. And now, until April, Buddha will remind me each morning as I dress myself that “it is better to travel well than to arrive.”
I’m still unpacking that one. I think that at least for now, I’ll take it to mean that I shouldn’t be so focused on the final destination and the goal that I miss the richness of the journey. I think that this might just be step #2 to the whole “living grateful” theme of 2010.
Today, my journey took me to a little town in Georgia, about an hour north of my home.
I listened to the Grammy winning Arcade Fire album, The Suburbs the whole way and was reminded that I really like that album. Then I bought gas on the other side of the state line for a mere $3.34/ gallon. (Hopefully, that wasn’t a rip off!!)
A little boy gasped when I walked in the room and said, “You are so pretty.” All day long, I remembered that and smiled to myself—in spite of the fact that I was wearing old worn out leopard print flats from an unnamed discount clothing store instead of fancy shoes like they would wear on Sex in the City.
I stopped into a great little local coffee shop and had a latte and a phenomenal chocolate chip cookie. The barista (the same guy who helped me out last time I was there by telling me where in town to buy beer that they don’t actually sell in Florida) helped me figure out how to surprise my friend Jane with some free lattes next time she stops there.
Then I drove back to Florida and made homemade Indian food for dinner that was:
1) Really good
2) Tasted like real Indian food
All in all kids, those little bits of the journey were fattening up the travel side of the equation. Who knows… maybe the whole point is that you’re always traveling, and every arrival is an awakening to the awareness that there’s still farther to go… I think that I might be to the point that I’m okay with that. I could possibly (surprising to me, too, guys!) embrace it…
I mean, for now anyway… talk to me in two weeks when I’m at that time of the month and I don’t remember that I stopped a random 4 year old in his tracks with my awe-inspiring beauty and all I can think of is how I wish that I could “just for once write a song that doesn’t suck and sound like every other song I’ve written in my life!!!” [Please use your most exaggerated, ridiculously, obnoxious teenager voice to narrate that quote when you read it in your head.]
Speaking of songs that we’re writing, here’s one that we were working on. Every once in a while if I don’t have the lyrics totally figured out yet, I’ll just ad-lib to fill the space and get a fuller idea of what it will sound like once it’s all together. This is me singing to Charlie: Don’t Hate
And this weekend, if you’re in Tallahassee, we invite you to come out to a fundraiser for Big Bend Hospice, so aptly named, “”Share the Journey.” We’ll be sharing the stage with Del Suggs and Low Flying Planes.
“Share The Journey II”
A Concert To Benefit The Big Bend Hospice
Friday March 11, 2011
American Legion Hall – 8:00 to 11:00 pm
Tickets are $25 ($40 per couple)
Tickets available at Big Bend Hospice, Old Town Café,
online below, and at the door.
For Additional Information
Call Laura at Big Bend Hospice: 850-701-1341
or email Randy: rhock63@aol.com
