Heading out early tomorrow morning for a few days camping on the beach at Santa Barbara. It is going to be clear, sunny, warm, breezy.
Those of you who read my articles know I love to camp and sleep outdoors. Nature is a big inspiration for me.
We have friends we camp with sometimes who are great fun. They bring their two larger than life dobermans who like to chew the fat with Mr. Barker. Last time we camped they also brought caviar, crystal glasses for their Armagnac and food to feed the whole campground. (In fairness it was a birthday celebration - they don't always travel with Beluga and they also brought Twinkies and 'smores).
My husband and I have different camping styles. He would do well on one of those Reality Survivor shows where you have to catch your food before you eat it. He loves to improvise and create and enjoys it when he is pushed to the wall and has to make do. His favorite camping trip is the one where we left the main bag of food in our garage and we made meals out of combinations of creamed corn, hot dogs and potato chips - whatever the local camping store had on hand.
I'm sort of in the middle. I like choices. So I may take hot chocolate, green tea, coffee and wine because I don't know what I'll feel like round the campfire. I'm flexible and like to be comfortable and also take cues from Reality.
So - today I was rushing around getting ready for my trip. I made a dash to catch the phone before it went to voicemail and ended up sliding on my hardwood floors and smashing my knee. Immediate excruciating pain and swelling and now I can't put weight on my leg.
When I hit the floor my first thought was "Oh *!@ that hurts." And my second thought was "Hmm so this is going to be a different kind of a camping trip. Okay."
I have a friend who loves working with possibility and intention who taught me this. One day she went to a store she had been to many times. It was closed in the middle of the day when it shouldn't have been closed.
A guy walking by directed her to a similar store she hadn't known existed a short distance away. Many of us would have been irritated. She, on the other hand, perked up. (Okay, there's possibility in this. What's going to open up for me?) She went to the other store. Saw a book on the counter which was written by someone who acknowledged a teacher of hers, called the teacher and got in touch with the author and found a connection which added value to her life. Doubtful that this would have happened if she had been grumbling about the extra distance and inconvenience suddenly added to her journey. She saw opportunity and possibility in the interruption of habit; the ripple in the matrix.
So, I unpacked my hiking boots and filled the space with more books, some cd's, a book of crossword puzzles and more writing paper.
As the Stones say,
"You can't always get what you want.
But if you try sometime, you might find you get what you need."
Hope to bring postable photos back from the beautiful, clear, sunny, California coastline.
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