Friday, August 14, 2009

Slower than slow -- July in drought, heat, and recovery

So, July was pretty much slo-mo. Body just said no to everything. And who was I to disagree. I ceded all authority to natural intelligence. And here I am safe, sound, sane and fully recovered 7 weeks later, so clearly, it was the right thing to do.

And I thought it gave me a pretty good perspective on how lucky I am, usually, to be in good health. But then I got this note today from a friend who reported on a mutual friend's post-op recovery following her 5th recurrence of cancer (4 times brain cancer; 1 time breast cancer). "Count your blessings," she said in closing her note. Indeed.

I am finally ok with not knowing what will come next, not just not knowing, but not caring (ie ,not worrying). It's more exciting that way. I take some comfort in recalling the year I took off to travel in Mexico, Central and South America, followed a short time later by 2 years of sailing around the Gulf and the Caribbean. And then I took another year to apply to and get into law school. So, things happen, directions shift, without constant effort towards them, oh, yeah, let's see, I saved a little fortune cookie thing that hit this nail on the head: You don't have to know where a road leads to know that you're on the right one.

Just as our Austin gardens are in survival mode this time of year, especially this summer when we are in a drought that has gone on nearly 2 years, and have experienced more than 55 days of triple-digit afternoons, so the critters are, so the woods and fields are, so am I. Just being.