Greetings of joyful salutations to the precious friends and
family that read this text. Before I begin to tell of my journey thus far, I
want to acknowledge that if I have sent you the blog address that you are
important and treasured to me. Each of you in your different ways touches my
life and therefore my heart and helps to make me who I am by your individual
gifts to me whether they be of example, encouragement, appreciation, or support
in so many ways. . The one attribute that is unknowingly shared by all of you
is that each of your sparks offers additional fuel to the fire that you help
tend… which is the passions of my heart: namely love, but in this context to be
mentioned, travel !
The first bit of news is that I am neither in Bali nor
Australia as first intended but in the beautiful Golfo Dulce region of southern
Costa Rica.
Three days after a very long travel to Bali, David’s father
passed on. He was 90. It was a peaceful transition in his own bed surrounded by
family. Nevertheless, a funeral follows a death and a good son, which David
most assuredly is, heeds the call to attend even when half way across the world.
He invited me to continue on in Bali, with the generous heart that he is known
for, but I gratefully declined his offer and instead chose to stay by his side.
We arrived in Dallas a day before a most beautiful service
replete with military presence and honor. Needless to say, his 90 year-old
mother as well as the rest of his family were very happy that we were there to
join in the honoring and passing of William Nolen.
After about a week there David decided to stay in Dallas for
a few weeks to help his mother, and I decided it was time to join Sophia in
Costa Rica. She was scheduled to start at Naropa, a small college in Boulder,
in January but decided to extend her time here and defer her start there until
the fall.
Even though we’ve been here together for weeks now, I’m still
astonished at how our paths have brought us once again to Costa Rica and more
exactly to joining our friends at Guaria de Osa for ceremony with the Secoya elders whom we’ve
been working with for the last few years.
Our experience there with ceremony, with friends, and with
the elders from the upper Amazon in Ecuador has once again generously provided
us with a great renewal. In many various and wonderful ways our bodies, minds,
and souls have been renewed, deepened, healed, and expanded. Our hearts are
further along toward claiming the full experience of divine love and joy that
is our birthright.
Each day unfolds with a greater awareness to the many
miracles that are always in front of us when our eyes are open to truly seeing.
The lush vividness of the jungle here beckons full attention. From the red regality
of the scarlet macaws to the acrobatic antics of the spider and capuchin monkeys,
there are vibrant and iridescent colors to behold. Hummingbirds of many varieties,
each with their own hues are abundant. The flowers, oh the flowers, above and
below! Many such as ylang ylang with scents that demand to be noticed and, in
my opinion, deeply breathed in and cherished, are everywhere. The shades of
blue waves that dance with a billion rainbows in the sunlight in this part of
warm water Pacific Ocean becomes a dark background at night to reflect the moon’s
light and the plankton. Colors, colors, colors.
Now to the sounds. The first are the roosters, 3:30 a.m.
sharp. Fortunately, they’re slow to wake and only call out a cock-a-doodle yawn
sporadically before their more serious early morning vibrato. Next, also while
it’s still dark, come the howler monkeys. They generally live further up into
the jungle so are seen less often than the spiders and capuchins but make their
presence known by their vociferous howls. Next is the moment for which I greet
with a child’s eager excitement, the birds’ gift of melodic early morning
prayer songs. My god, this music is like a long-awaited expression of a very
specific tone that I need to be truly whole. My practice is to open my hearing
as wide as it will go and to be vigilant with the wanderings of my mind. The
longing to drink with a parched thirst each drop of nectar that is the sweetness
of their chorus helps me to simply breathe, be present, embrace, enjoy, and
give thanks to the new day. Waves lapping and cicadas chirping are always in
the background. Sounds.
Tastes. FRESH COCONUT
WATER !!! Given
to us from above by the capuchins, whose efforts to slurp its amazing delights,
often result in dropping the cocos to the ground where we scoop them up.
And now ?
David joined Sophia and me shortly after our arrival at Casa
Dulce, an incredibly perfect place that we’ve rented for the week. I look out
from our hammock-strung balcony past the gardens to the ocean. David and I awoke
in the open-air upstairs loft to the sight and sound of the ocean, two agoutis,
a small mammal that inhabits this place and, of course, our love together, with
Sophia, and all that we cherish and hold sacred, nourished by the early morning
bird song.
In Love with Joy,
Sandy
No comments:
Post a Comment