10 life lessons learned

It's been quite a while since I posted here. Sometimes life just gets busy...work, more work, house, exercise, meditate, garden, play...it all takes time.

However, in my commitment to follow through on those things I say I will do, below is my top 10 list of 'insights' I came away with on my trip this summer out to the Pacific Northwest to visit friends.

Most are inspired by the stories and experiences shared with people I have known a long time, some almost twenty years. Most were friends who were at one time a daily part of my life, but now mostly we exchange occasional 'hello' and 'how are you' messages via Facebook.

I spent a lot of time one on one, catching up on the intricacies of life, the loves come and gone, the kids that have grown up and graduated, new jobs, illness, weddings. Life moves forward, and yet, I find with people whom I've known so intimately, we easily fall back into a familiar rhythm.

I know this post seems a bit off topic from 'sustainability', but living sustainably, in my opinion, means cultivating deep community. My community expands far beyond the borders of Saratoga, where I live. I still rely upon these friends, near and far, to help nurture and support my creativity and sense of purpose, as I hope I do for them. Of course, cultivating community locally is really essential for what I call deep sustainability. Still, these connections we have with people who live afar are equally important, though perhaps less frequent. Some simply feed some aspect of our soul, and keeping those connections is essential.

So, here's my list of the top 10 great insights/reminders I came away with - inspired by my Oly friends!

1) Good friends who care deeply about you will always be your friends regardless of where you are located - learn to carry them in your heart and you can call upon them at any time.
2) Love takes time - the kind that's really lasting anyways. And sometimes, 'being in love just isn't enough', as one friend said to me of her brief but passionate long-distance romance
3) There is always someone whose life experience has been more difficult than your own - learn from those people's challenges and strengths
4) Change happens - to us all
5) Keep in touch with the people you care about-sometimes they need you more than you might expect
6) Love deeply and care about what you do
7) Laugh a lot!
8) Sometimes it's not so essential to take everything so seriously
9) Enjoy what you have while you have it
10) Be thankful !

It may all seem so simple, but sometimes we need simple reminders to be thankful. Life can change instantly, as I learned of one friend who had a serious illness come upon fast.

And, as people come and go in our lives, there will always be those constancies. They can help you get through the tough times. In the meantime, reaching out to people near you - like my neighbors with whom I share a kindred feeling of 'neighborliness'. We even gardened together this summer. Sharing resources, ideas, information, creativity - that's an essential part of a thriving life, and, in my opinion, for building deep community and sustainability...

So, connect with an old friend, and have a cup of coffee with your neighbor - both may surprise and delight you.

Mid-summer dream

Sorry it has been some time since I posted. I was out of town in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) for two weeks, while most of the east coast sweltered in 100+ degree weather. While I was away, some of my garlic dried up (boo hoo), but otherwise life went on and my garden is slowly growing.

This was a significant journey as I lived out west for nine years, so it's much like going home, except this time I felt more like a tourist than resident. I've now lived back on the east coast for ten years - one more year than I did out west.

I knew I'd become a true east coaster when about 20 minutes into the drive down I-5 toward Olympia, I asked my friend who had picked me up from the airport, "So, what's with all this rain?", in true east-coast fashion, direct and to the point. I couldn't get over the gray skies and rain coming down in the middle of the day.

Granted, the PNW is experiencing an unseasonably wet and rainy summer. Typically by mid-July, the summer weather consists of sunny blue skies with temps in the 80's. Still, it does rain out there a lot the remainder of the year. I was surprised at how tall the trees were, and how dark it felt. I suppose after living on the east coast for so many years now I am more accustomed to four seasons, hot summer, warm pleasant fall, coooold winter, wet spring waiting for snow to melt.

Still, after numerous folks telling me, "be glad you're not in the heat, it's oppressive", I have in retrospect appreciated the mid-60's, low 70's temps I was in while other friends and family were boiling. Except, what I also came to realize was how intimately tied our physical bodies become to our surroundings. After our cold snowy winter, I relish walking out of my air-conditioned office building into the warm summer heat.

Ahh, still, so many wonderful things learned and experienced. I've often used the Pacific Northwest and west coast in general as a sort of sustainable living/community benchmark. For example, 'sustainability' is all the buzz-word here on the east coast, which is great! Still, the City of Olympia was talking about 'sustainability and climate change' twenty years ago - and incorporating these issues into their comprehensive plans. As always, I often have some great environmental insights, and this trip I had several environmental Aha's:

1) Food waste/yard waste composting with roadside pickup is possible! Seattle, Olympia, and many surrounding communities now have this curbside service. That's been a dream of mine for Saratoga/Capital Region for a long time. They are doing it, so it is possible!



2) Seattle/Tacoma finally constructed a major section of Light Rail, connecting downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport! What a dream, and multi-modal experience. I carpooled with friends from Olympia up to the Ferry in Seattle, that took me to Bainbridge Island to visit friends. On my way back I walked by foot from my friends house down to the ferry terminal on the island, rode the ferry over to Seattle, from there walked 5 blocks to the light rail station, then rode light rail to the Airport! A great experience.

3) I was reminded of what a 'bike-friendly' city Seattle and others are. Here is my friend Bryan, who rides the ferry over to Seattle, then bikes another 40 mins to get to work - like many people who live on the Island, he and his wife share one car. The ferry terminal had an entire small building dedicated to 'bike lockers' - where commuters could pay a certain amount per month to store their bikes while they rode the ferry over to Seattle. Even the light rail train had a special area to hang bikes.





And of course, on a personal level, I had many wonderful exchanges and sharing and lessons and reminders which are always wonderful reflections and gauges of how far one has come in their personal life, and perhaps, the next direction to go. I've decided to share these in a later post.

The most important thing I learned though, is it's official, I really am an east coaster - and with that - I'm going to the beach! (Though, for the record, there is still nothing like fresh-grilled salmon from the Pacific Northwest, yes, it even beats fresh lobster from Maine - me thinks!)