Ahhhh! August

My European roots are yearning and longing. They want to enjoy the truth of what August is about. VACATION!! Everyone, except the service workers, is on vacation in Europe. Yes, everyone is a really big word. I mean, where are the bakers and bus drivers? Who manages everything during vacation time? So realistically, maybe not everybody....

Words...blah blah blah.

I am so aware that all the words spoken and written have a place from whence they come and a place where they land. They all have substance...so when I paint with a broad paintbrush I get a little edgie.......wanting to be authentic and real......

I digress.....August has caught me with my vacation head fully engaged. It showed up on Tuesday as I attempted sitting in the Home Office of my employer. Successfully pushed through that, accomplishing work and felling better for it, I guess. I want more vacation.....

I learned quite a few things on Tuesday...

my favorite phrase was....

Was that the best use of my time?

Pondered that. Then pondered that some more. Gonna keep pondering that.

For the last 5 years the first week of August has been given in service at a conference at Asilomar Conference grounds in Pacific Grove, Ca. I taught youth classes and then lead the teaching team. We accomplished some great and fantastic experiences during each of those weeks on the Monterey Bay. I made new friends and found more about myself to love and trust.

This week is poignant for me. I have "graduated", or is it "released", and flew by Asilomar to say hi to friends and stayed on the north end of the bay instead of being on the conference team. Many things have changed...some for good.....some still need to be better.

In 2009 when we were here, Sam had a great time. He volunteered with a groundskeeper and did some support work with the Monterey Pine seedlings that are in an area near the youth classrooms. On Monday a group of us blessed those trees with a ceremony to spread some of Sam's ashes. It was beautiful and so loving for us all. His love is all around us and I am so appreciative to be dancing in it! His friends are a treasure to me.

Things change and that is the way I like it. I want to grow and expand. That must be why I am a farmer. I plant seeds and reap harvests that are abundant and strong. I cultivate my life to have all of the right ingredients to thrive. When the invasive species show up I get rid of them....you know what I mean, the weeds and bad bugs.

Cultivation brings congruence.