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Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Be Present



This past weekend I took advantage of my new found unemployed free time and decided to take a road trip to Memphis. My Mom was a huge Elvis fan, and had never gotten the chance to go there before her Arthritis and Diabetes took it's toll on her. So I thought it would be a good adventure and I'd do it 'for her'. For those of you who don't know, my Mom passed away just before she turned 64, and I am an only child, so it was a devastating loss, which is mentioned many times here on my blog. Mom loved storms, lightning in particular. She loved to sit outside if it wasn't too menacing out, or watch them out the window. The morning after the night she passed, I awoke to a terrible storm going on outside. I said, that's Mom up there saying 'let me see you do that again!'

This past February, I had the chance to go to a place very close to my heart, Superstition Mountain in Arizona (also posted here previously, pictures and details galore!) I chose to take a small amount of my Mom's ashes with me on my hike up Superstition. It's a spiritual place for me, my 'happy' place, profoundly still yet alive. I picked a nice place at the very top of the trail and threw her ashes in the air, she was now a part of my favorite place. It was very meaningful for me. The next night, it stormed like crazy in Arizona. Huge lightning bolts lit up the desert sky. I wondered if it was coincidence...

Well, this trip, I chose to bring some ashes with again, to leave at Graceland, close to Elvis. She was crazy about him. So as I retrieved the small amount of ashes, I said, "Ok Ma, no storms this trip, not on two wheels...lightning, maybe, but rain, not cool please!" On my arrival into Memphis Friday night, after stopping for dinner, on the road to the hotel in Lakeland dusk had passed, they sky was dark, and in the distance.....I saw a flash. I'd been watching the forecast for days, and no rain was expected that I knew of, so I dismissed the flash as some car or something in the distance. Then it happened again, and again. The kind of flash that lights up a piece of sky, but you see no bolt, just illuminated sky. And then, a huge bolt of lightning cut a path across the dark blue sky in front of me. As I parked my bike at the hotel it misted for a moment, just enough to leave a few spots on my tank, and then it was gone. Lightning, just lightning...no storm, no rain. It's getting harder to dismiss as coincidence!

I think the grand total of hours I was on the bike was like 25, with the exception of a couple meals & fuel stops, of course. That was a lot of time in the saddle, a lot of time with myself, just me, thinking, feeling, experiencing the ride. The trip was smooth with one exception. As I was reaching the end of an off ramp on the way to visit the Harley dealer in Effingham, IL, my shift peg fell off! As luck would have it, I happened to look down at the exact moment it fell, and saw it bounce it's way to the side of the road. I put my hazards on, stopped the bike, and spent a few minutes walking the uncut, knee high grass. Tah Dah!!! I found it, put it back on, made sure it was tight, and went on from there. The road angels and my guardian angels smiled upon me that fortunate moment. If it had fallen off anywhere else, there would have been no finding it, and who knows how far I would have had to ride to find somewhere I could get it replaced!

25 hours of thinking is a lot. I think all the time, but riding thinking is different. I feel more connected to the universe. I caught my thoughts wandering back to the events that caused me to walk out of my job, and to all the other things that added far too much tension to my life. I decided to make myself stop and 'smell the roses'. I was the middle of the earth's splendor, witnessing, hearing, smelling, feeling nature. It was hot, sunny, perfect riding weather for me. I could feel the wind, warm and soothing on my skin. I could smell the pockets of spring flower scented air, and see everything growing in it's glory. BE PRESENT. I made myself take notice of the many shades of green there are, from the yellows of the farmers fields to the deep, dark, shaded green of the decades old trees lining the farmland. Nature is, indeed, a spectacular thing to witness if you stop yourself from being too busy to notice.

I understood the term 'be present' before, but now, after having been so stressed for so long, even though I'm unemployed at the moment, I'm making it a point of filling myself back up with moments that make me happy. "Present" moments. I think my soul has been depleted by all the stress and bad events in my life, and I need a refill, a refuel, a life road trip! I want to spend my time off counting 'life is good' moments :)

And if you're interested, the pictures are on my facebook

enjoy!
Ride to Memphis
Elvis' Toys
Route 66
Graceland
Memphis

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