The Miss’s – Mississippi/Missouri

Joni, Mom and I are on our way back from Starkville, MS. We said goodbye to Hannah and the girls this morning as they went off to school and work. Lilly was excited to begin preschool at her new school. I found her singing and dancing in her playroom this morning, sunglasses on, watching the sun rise out the eastern window. It was a treat to find her performing for no one, with pure joy, unselfconscious. I hope she can enjoy that state of mind for a few years at least, perhaps a life time.

It was fun being in Mississippi with Kyle and Hannah and the girls though we didn’t do much more than eat, hang out, play, change diapers, nap, and chat. The big event was to paddle and swim in their community lake. With a paddle board and a boat with an electric motor, we enjoyed touring the lake and jumping in for a cool dip. This was a great remedy to the hot Mississippi heat.

Lilly had yet to begin school for the year so we had more time with her than anyone.

Having my mom with us added another warm dimension to our visit. There were a few moments when I took a mental picture of the 4 generations of “McGavock girls” around the table. As I get older I realize how precious these moments are and how quickly they pass.

The Mississippi interlude was a great respite from all the planning, plotting, bookwork and bookings we

have been doing. Nice to have the slow pace and time to catch up on some of the more minor details. I took time to organize and consolidate my computer files and finally to merge my user account onto Joni’s computer. We’ve decided that bringing one computer will be all we can carry in our luggage and all we need for our travels. It’s amazing how much weight a computer occupies in the totality of all things for travel. Given that we have an iPad and our iPhones we can definitely do without 2 computers. Turns out that it was relatively easy to replicate all my account information and applications onto Joni’s computer. I also had time to finish the instructions for maintaining our house that I had begun so long ago. Thanks to Google Docs and YouTube I was able to publish and update instructions with photos and movies. Hopefully, this will insure that our house is in tact and maintained upon our return.

Flash forward to Tuesday Aug. 15th …I failed to finish this entry the day I started it. Tonight we are in St. Louis, at the Holiday Inn, repacking our packs for the flight to London early in the morning. We’ll rise at 3:00 and catch the shuttle to the airport by 3:30.

The past week was full of hellos and goodbyes as we visited with my Missouri family. We managed to gather my brothers and wives at mom’s house for one evening and then caught some more time with them and friends at other gatherings. While the weather wasn’t cool in Colorado terms, Missouri was very pleasant for August; though my pregnant nieces would disagree 🙂

As the week progressed our list got smaller and smaller and we managed to cast off more and more of our belongings into storage while we consolidated the essentials for Nepal. It is quite the winnowing process, like a snake shedding it’s skin. I would go through piles of items, let them sit for a time and then decide, “I can live without that”, “They DO have shops in Nepal if I’m desperate”. The final product is 73 pounds of clothes, educational materials, electronics, camera equipment, and miscellany for me and 52 pounds for Joni. I’m certain that the camera equipment and electronics is what pushes me into the lead. Hopefully we have it well balanced between our carry-on and checked bags so that we don’t have to reshuffle at check in. I’ll tell you how that goes later.

It is an interesting moment, here on the perch of our long journey. It is impossible to know exactly what lies ahead, but I know it will be novel, sometimes difficult and exhausting, sometimes exhilarating, precious, and eye opening. Joni and I are determined to be patient with one another, though I know that may be difficult at times. We have a pact to go slow, and remind each other to be mindful of our environment; keeping our “stuff” safe and together.

Passports – check,   money – check,   baggage – check,   sense of humor – check.

It is an incredible privilege to be going on this trip. I hope that we find ways to benefit others as we soak up the diversity of this beautiful planet.

 

On the Road

We’re outta here. At 1:00 on Saturday, July 29th Joni and I left the Roaring Fork Valley to begin our sojourn to Nepal. It has been an intense few weeks to get to this point of departure; finishing all the last minute touches on our house and turning it over to our friends and new occupants, and then living with friends and family for a week.

Packing for the trip while cleaning the house was a checker game moves, shifting piles of old/new, keep/discard, cleaning the house section by section, packing bags, moving furniture, cleaning another spot, and so on and on. There was the Nepal pile, the US travel pile, the storage pile, the work pile and the final business pile. Moving things around had it’s ups and downs as things were NOT always where I remembered them to be last. Fortunately nothing important has been lost (and least not that I know of).

The most heart wrenching good-bye was to our dog Beau. He is the sweetest dog on the planet. I’m positive of that 🙂 He has had many chapters and many homes in his life. While we torn about leaving him, we know that he is in good hands; continuing to live at our house with caring people. Not only does he have the new residents (Ben and Namrata) to take care of him but he also has the caring eyes of Luanne who lives in our apartment. I’ve never met anyone as focused on animals and their welfare as she is.

Thanks to our friends and family, we had places to stay in Glenwood and Carbondale after we turned over our house on the 23rd. It was a challenge to live in a temporary location with things in the car, still at our house, and in our temporary residences. More challenging than the things were the mental “things” we had to juggle and complete. There was tying up the business of our home, health work, finances and community. All required more concentration and energy than the physical “things” we had to pack. Banking, insurance, selling the car, working, Dr’s appointments and prescriptions – were all things that had to be done in person.

Our last goodbyes from the Valley were woven in to the Carbondale Mountain Fair festivities. We had a chance to see the annual, summer, rainbow-of-tie-dye arrive, visit the vendors, see friends and family for last good-byes and watch some great music.It felt fitting and fortuitous that we were present for the blessing of the Fair, provided by the Ganden Sechen Monks. They come to our Valley every summer to deliver teachings and familiarize people with the culture (and the plight) of Tibet. It is connections like this that inspired our trip to Nepal to serve the nuns at Tsoknyi Gechak Ling Monastery.

Right after the blessing we were treated to music by our friend Frank Martin. Frank’s music and the songs that he writes, while they sound like classics, tell a the story of the people land and events of our time. 

The song, “Blue on Blue” is special to me as it was written about Alaska on a trip that Joni and I shared with Frank’s wife Paula and him. It tells the story of diverse people, traveling on a ferry to Valdez. Similar to the song, I can imagine Joni and I on buses, trains and planes, talking with new people from all over the world, sharing a brief moment in time, and realizing how similar and connected we are.

After the Fair, we wedged Frank into our RAV4 in and amongst our packed bags and boxes. This first leg of our trip – to Colorado Springs – took us to Joni’s mom’s house. We exiting the Valley over Independence Pass, where we got to wave goodbye to the Colorado Mountain jewels. The narrow road was a foreshadowing of the roads we will travel in the Himalayas, winding around corners, with deep canyons dropping off the side. Here we go…

View from the Beach

We are loosening our grip on home with a trip to Washington and Oregon, preparing for our daughter’s wedding and enjoying some space from packing, packing, packing. It is helpful to have the space from our work and travel preparations. We are so blessed to be able to travel before the Big Trip. Yesterday we drove from Walla Walla, Washington to Seaside, Oregon, driving through the Columbia River Gorge and Portland. I was in a drowsy state of mind for the drive; a little uninspired. Perhaps it was the grey weather, perhaps the recovery from all the travel and the wedding planning. Not that I’m a central figure in the planning. At any rate, I was inspired once I could see and hear the beach. And while the air was cold and the sky was grey, the sight of it all has been awakening. This morning we woke to a calm and clearing sky. The blue is increasing and the grey receding. I am sitting with a birds eye view on the sand and surf, along the promenade of Seaside.
What a great view it is.
While I am enjoying the time away from the planning and prep for our upcoming trip, I continue to reflect on the details as well as the mysteries of our journey. We have done our best to nail down the details of our travel; the basics of flight, lodging and other transportation. But the realities of life in Nepal remain a mystery This is despite the reading and conversations we have had with experienced travelers and our Nepali hosts. No matter how much we think and talk about our trip, it won’t be unveiled until we are there. Then we will “know” what Nepali life entails. Life is like that isn’t it? We spend hours speculating about some endeavor or project, only to truly figure it out when we are in the thick of it. I’ve experienced this at work on project as simple as wiring a camera. I can either spend the morning poking my head in ceilings, looking for the best location or what might be, or simply get to work. Granted there is value to thinking ahead but too often it is overdone; a great tool of avoidance.
Now… back to speculating. We are now 2 months from our scheduled flight from St. Louis to London, the first leg of our trip to Kathmandu. While I have at least 30 days of work to do when I return, my main job will be pulling together the items that will be my living kit for the duration of my trip. A set of clothes; shirts, underwear, socks, shoes, jackets, hats. These items need to be versatile and capable of an easy wash. While I intend to limit the number of items that I bring (I don’t need to impress anyone), these need to be appropriate for work in the monastery, comfortable and useful in a variety of settings. In addition to clothing, I will bring camera equipment that will allow me to tell the story of our journey and experience. I would like to give my family and friends some idea of our daily life; a little window into the world of Nepal. As I have found in my research, even the Internet of pictures and stories doesn’t adequately paint a picture of our destination much less our work. I am hoping to chronicle our life there and give a sense of the people and our relationship to them. Accomplishing this is more easily said that done I expect, since there are the practicalities of employing my camera, video and or microphones at the right time and in a way that doesn’t get in the way of our relationships. This is difficult around family and it will probably be a similar challenge in our Nepali community. I don’t anticipate that I will want to record extensive segments of life in Chobhar but snippets of sound and sights. Choosing the most appropriate equipment (not too much or too little) to accomplish this will be the trick. Storage will of course play a role as will methods for moving, editing and sharing the data. I will want the best lenses for the places we visit. Flexibility, durability, useablity are key.

Road to Nepal – Preparations

Sitting at a bus stop in Glenwood Springs, I am on my way to Denver for a mini reunion with High School friends. My friend, Maureen, is hosting the gathering in honor of my impending journey. It has been quite some time since my last post – as has been the norm for this blog. That said, I am committed to providing myself and others more detail on my process and experiences along the way to Nepal.

The last months have been full of preparations. Everything from buying tickets and booking hotels to cleaning the garage and every drawer of every cabinet. In addition to these activities, there have been some unexpected turns in the road. As all travelers know, the path is seldom without it’s obstacles and unseen opportunities.

Joni and I are deep into cleaning and purging the house in preparation for renting it. The process of sorting, musing, discarding, recycling, and donating can be quite time consuming. I have to come to grips with old memories and determined how precious “things” are to my existence. Usually the object is of little import, save that it is an interesting spark to some old memory; sometimes all the way back to childhood and elementary school experience, high school or college endeavors or sometimes a more recent (but quickly passing) artifact from my girls. I have found grades, awards, letters, photographs, journals. These take me back to mostly fond memories and`sometimes to regrets of roads not taken. Despite their value for reflection and a brief feeling of attachment, most of the artifacts are not worth keeping. Casting out these and other less precious receipts, letters, and such has tripled the flow of paper out of the house through trash and recycling.

This process of sorting and discarding has many benefits. The most obvious is that it has simplified the clutter in my house and consequently settled my mind. I’ve always appreciated the calm that comes with little acts of organization. I recall nights in my adolescence when I would be agitated, altered and/or full of thoughts. Cleaning my bedroom was always a good antidote for my restlessness. It brought me back to in touch with my body and senses and chased away my insecurities. While I am not as disturbed as in my youth, my housecleaning brings me a similar sense of calm. There is something about the act of sorting, classifying, storing or discarding that is centering. Perhaps it takes us back to earlier human acts of “nesting”. Activities we engaged in early civilization or cave dwelling days. Or perhaps it is the concentration, the sensation in the fingers, the looking and connecting with the object, the intention… one thing at a time. I realize that this could be a frenetic exercise if I took a different approach. I could wildly throw things to the wind. But for me it is a sort of mind training – a tool for bringing my awareness on to a single thing.

In addition to the organizing items of personal history, Joni and I have taken a deep dive into the various knick knacks, tools, cleaners, paints, cosmetics, and clothes. Every drawer and cabinet in the house has an collection of the relics of living; similar and sometimes odd bits from the large to minute, the useful to the outdated. It is a wonder how many paper clips, nails and tacks I’ve gathered up, refugees from various projects. I can spend 2 or 3 hours focusing on a location. Afterward I might feel quite accomplished or I may feel like I have created a bigger mess. Through the process I’ve learned to live with messes and piles of items with no immediate home. In the end even these “hanging chads” finally find a cohort of like items and eventually find a resting place either in the house or in the “out box”.

This household purging is ongoing but I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel. That’s a good thing because time is growing short. Our original rental goal was the first week in June so this leaves only 30 days to completion. Due to time constraints and the improved simplicity of the indoor landscape, we are moving into the phase of storage only. We hope to rent the house with our furniture in place and the most valued items stowed into safe corners of the basement, shed or garage. In addition to stowing the final items, other preparations continue; decide exactly what we need to bring within the weight limit of 35kg (77 pounds).

The Journey Begins

This is my attempt to begin to chronicle our trip to Nepal. On September 23rd we interviewed and accepted a volunteer position at Tsoknyi Gechak Ling Monastery, teaching english to young nuns. We had been thinking about this possibility for a couple years when we first met Tsoknyi in Steamboat and got a presentation of their work there in Nepal. We are “scheduled” to begin our work there in September 2017 and will finish at the end of January 2018. While we have about 10 months to prepare, there is much to do, learn and familiarize ourselves with before that time. We are traveling to a new culture, with sometimes difficult living conditions. We want to do our best in providing the girls with effective instruction in English. We want to take time to enjoy the people and the area around Chobar and the rest of Nepal. We need to schedule flights, understand visas, get the required immunizations, understand money, bring appropriate clothes. On top of preparations for being in Nepal, we need to make preparations for our home here in Glenwood Springs. At some point, we would like to rent the house. We would like to use this opportunity to clear out (declutter) our house so that we have less to pack away and less to be concerned about.

This series of blog posts will help me to clarify what is happening and what is left to do. It is both an outlet and and inlet for ideas, emotions and insight into the trip. The journey has already begun. Perhaps my process will be of benefit to other people with similar dreams.

This trip combines many aspirations. First, it provides a way for me to work in the service of these girls and my Teacher. I feel very dedicated to support the projects of Tsoknyi. It is clear from his discussion of the school and his presentations in the promotional videos that he is dedicated to the needs of these children; helping support their basic needs and become educated and empowered. It is rather subtle but he is also aiming to provide a community of learning that is kind and nurturing while being enriching, structured and constructive for the students. Kind and nurturing is foremost in his mind it appears. He repeats this often in his description of the school. It is consistent with the principals he describes in his teachings of Dharma and mediation. He truly believes that we are overly harsh in our push for results – that we need to listen to our resistances – our monsters. Beginning with understanding and kindness in our practice and in our relationships will help us to heal our sensitivities and bring about better results in our practice. If we are to make peace with our monsters, resistances, fears and such, we can begin by having more compassion for ourselves as things come up. While this might vary somewhat on the personality/temperament of the person, most of us can benefit from a gentler approach to our demons. Rimpoche describes the hand shake practice that helps us address issues as they pop up in our lives.

My personal experience with this approach has been most helpful. I have been able to apply my mediation practice; resting with what comes up, sitting WITH it rather than pushing my fears, attractions, resistances, images, etc. away. The ideas of bringing this kind approach to students and adults in a school also makes sense. A community of people who take this approach to their personal demons, may bring compassion and kindness to each other. When a community speaks the language of kindness, they can help one another promote inner and outer kindness.

My aspiration to work at TGL has developed slowly and surely as I have become familiar with Tsoknyi Rimpoche’s teachings and his person. While I realize that going to Nepal will not miraculously take away my fears, cravings, biases, and other baggage that I carry, I know that I am entering a community where growth is encouraged. I intend to make the best of this opportunity for polishing my rough edges and developing a more open heart.