family reunion, amma and a surprise

We spent a week in Los Angeles seeing Amma.  This included doing service, getting hugged, practicing meditation, and eating great food.  And sitting with Amma.  At the end of our time things fell into place for Sky to travel with Amma on some more of her US tour, so we put her on a bus, and the rest of us spent a day in LA having fun, and then went home to get ready for our big adventure.

the amma kendama project lives

This was in June.  I am behind in blogging about our summer travels.  I know it's October now but we had a crazy autumn.  We almost moved, but we didn't.  Since August I have taken two trips and am planning a third.  Plus we have been actively helping Sky with her many college applications.  Life is just busy in general.  Still I love to tell our story, so I will attempt to accomplish a review of our summer before the year is over.  We shall see how I do.

In June I took Shawn and Annabel to LA and we saw Amma.  Gary came a few days later with Sky after she took her SATs.  Shawn and I had shipped a bunch of kendamas to the LA hotel we were staying at.  We had raised money from our supersonic bake sale back in May.  We purchased the kendamas wholesale, so we made a good profit.  We brought the toys up to Amma and then afterwards were given permission to sell them.  The hall was so crowded with bookstore items and tables displaying all of the charitable work that we took a space in the hallway.  That was fine as it gave the kids room to play nearby.

We sold about twenty kendamas total.  We made $400 just from those.  We donated the rest to the staff to sell at their leisure.  It was hard work and Shawn and his friends spent a lot of time manning our "booth" that we fashioned out of the large cardboard box that the kendamas had been shipped in. He also played in the hotel pool with some of his friends.  After all, a boy needs balance.

When I came home in late July two of my five banana trees had fruit growing.  The bananas are just beginning to ripen now.  Are we in for another round of baking?  Not sure.  I might enlist one of the neighborhood kids to help my boy.  My focus this year is helping Sky with college applications and applying for scholarships.  It's pretty much a full time job, with all of my other family duties.

Speaking of full time jobs, I am trying to figure out what I want to be when I "grow up."  My background is in mental health.  Not sure where life is going to take me, but right now my focus is still the family.  Meanwhile I am finding inspiration in neuropsycholgical research on mindfulness and meditation.  There is a lot to learn in Ted talks and YouTube videos of taped talks of super smart people.  And I am looking into becoming a meditation teacher.  Life will unfold, all in good time.

san diego, final post

Decisions.
We make them based on comparing contrasting options.
Too big, too small, too urban, too quiet.
All the while balancing it all, sometimes like a juggling clown, we throw the balls in the air, over and over, until all we see is a blur of moving spheres.
And then, in a moment, it all becomes clear.

And we know just what to do.
The trick is to wait for the clarity.

more san diego

In retrospect the joyous times in our lives are so easily recalled.  One week in San Diego in an oceanfront hotel with my parents.  Two college visits, the first ones ever for our oldest girl.  Made special because my parents came along.  A televised football game with my father.  I predicted the turn of events in which his team won.  Suddenly I was his good luck charm.  The sparkling blue tile to match the sea. Images of rows of bikes, orderly, juxtaposed with seals, more haphazard, but no less beautiful.  Everywhere there is beauty.  

san diego trip

During fall break we met my parents in San Diego and spent a week together in a beautiful old hotel right on the ocean. Every night people would put on sweaters, set tables on the sand, and cook out. Sometimes someone would play their guitar.  We visited two colleges, took lots of walks on the beach, played tennis, swam in the pool, cooked dinners, got frozen yogurt, walked around the town, and relaxed.  The weather was gorgeous and it was so special and fun to see my mom and dad, who are about the coolest and most easy going people I know.