Recovery: 6th Month

Six months after hip replacement surgery I am able to hike up and down mountains, sleep, and simply move through the day without pain. An incredible difference!

En Este Momento

Our way is not to sit to acquire something; it is to express our true nature...There is no preparation for something else. That is our practice. (Shunryu Suzuki)

In Costa Rica

I'm in Costa Rica--we're in Costa Rica. The first month was about setting up, and we successfully covered the basics: enrolled kids in school, found house, bought car, opened bank account, accessed internet. Then it was settling in, meaning we established routine: up by 5:00, wake kids by 6:30, prepare breakfast, brush teeth, put on sun lotion, drive to bus stop, exercise, write, etc. All this seems to work well, and is perhaps necessary, but I wonder to what extent routine romoves me/us from Costa Rica? At the same time, I remind myself, when preparing breakfast, prepare breakfast--there's nothing else needed in that moment, even in Costa Rica.

Moving to Costa Rica

On August 17 we will land in San Jose, Costa Rica to begin a school-year adventure. We're going into this with lots of unanswered questions like where will we live? How will we get around? Will we have enough money? Once settled in, my work is pretty well defined: I will write and do research. As a family, we mainly want to have fun. And for the kids, they will learn Spanish... Bringing myself back to the present, so much to do to prepare the house for renters moving in on August 1, pack what we think we'll need for 9 1/2 months, and otherwise attend to all the details associated with moving. It will come together; and if not, well, we're moving to Costa Rica anyway.

Cafe Felix

Music blasts dark cadences of desire across an open field. Tattooed breasts in the eastern sky reveal our place in the world. “Down!” she shouts, missing why an old man slumps in a plastic car seat on the empty parking lot. “What does this mean?” ask young lovers as they flip through channels of despair on a television that no longer works.  Chemo is today's special, eluding the bloody reality oozing from pores where we feel but won’t look.

$merica Today

Boot Camp

My son began boot camp this week, his initiation into the military culture in preparation for the Coast Guard Academy this fall. I'm impressed that he was selected by the Academy for a full ride, four-year college education--this is quite an accomplishment. However, as his dad, I do wonder what will happen to his human spirit during the next seven weeks of hazing and indoctrination. Will this serve as the first step in becoming another cog in the military machine, or will he engage his intellectual, creative capacities to learn about himself, others, and the world?......Most likely I'm missing it all together and he'll simply come away from these weeks with his story. Will I listen?