April and May - Life Happens

Well, it has been just under two months since last writing. To catch up:

• Taught an Usui Reiki I class this past weekend in Denver, Colorado at the Consulate Healing Center in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. It's a beautiful place. I had three students, one of whom is getting ready to move to DC (ironic?). I really liked being in Denver for the first time and visited the Botanical Garden and Zoo, both near the City Park area. We also dined at the Little India Restaurant and a Gypsy Tea house called Gypsy House Cafe. The RCGW tradition of fine dining continues!
• Traveled to Minnesota for my niece Sophie's Bat Mitzvah. It was wonderful to be celebrating such a happy milestone. We call that a Simcha (happiness) in Yiddish. It was definitely that. Simchas bring Naches (pride) to the family when the Bat Mitzvah does a good job. She did great!
• Got laryngitis for the first time in years. Steve says it was a relief because he got some lovely quiet for a few days. Another Mercury Retrograde item, according to an online source at ivillage.com.
• Had a car accident. Hit from behind on a rainy night at a stoplight and pushed into the car ahead of us. My Angel Michael informs me that it could have been LOTS worse, so I am grateful today. I now have a 1997 car that looks like new! I really have to say that State Farm did a fabulous job of arranging everything. Some might say that this is a common thing during a Mercury Retrograde. I had just finished saying to Steve, "I am sure ready for 2010 to stop bringing us so many challenges."
• Learned that Lu has cancer, needed surgery, had surgery and is now in recovery. We're still trying to figure out how much teaching she'll be able to do at RCGW in the near future.
• Purchased Mind Body Online software to use with our website as a virtual assistant. I'm really excited because this gives us the ability to grow and for clients to book sessions online.

Grocery Shopping with Dad...a Mirror for Me

I spent the afternoon with my Mom and Dad...first at Chili's for lunch, then with Dad at Cub Foods on Texas Avenue in St. Louis Park, Minnesota for a mega-shopping expedition. My
Dad, Al (or Big Al as many call him) has been getting over a cold that has settled in his chest. Between coughs and looks at my Mom's extensive list, we had a chance to connect among the various vegetables in the immense produce section.

I have an annual migration to St. Louis Park, a city of 50,000 or so in the southwestern suburbs of Minneapolis. Their house is actually only two blocks from the city and within a short walk of three beautiful lakes (Cedar Lake, Lake of the Isles, and Lake Calhoun {don't ask why it isn't Lake Cedar}). All of the lakes have beautiful paths around them that are wonderful to hike when the weather is nice, which it was today. But, of course, being Minnesota, tomorrow it is going to snow.

Dad and I talked about his role as a "shlepper". This is a Yiddish term that means one who goes to get for someone else, usually in this case Dad for Mom. Passover time is a busy season for shleppers and I consider myself an honorary shlepper when Mom begins the cooking ritual for the upcoming Seders. This year will be the first that Mom and Dad haven't hosted it since I was a toddler.

I'm feeling the energy of things changing, even as I return to the same house I grew up in. The house has new siding and roof, courtesy of the insurance company thanks to last summer's hailstorm. There is new paint on some of the walls (since the house itself may be transitioning as my parents move to the next stage of their lives).

It feels odd to return and see the change that my family that lives here sometimes misses because it happens so gradually.

What I saw today was my Dad's tendency to be particular about simple things:

• How to double bag (I learned that you don't open the inside bag until it's in; actually a helpful hint).
• How to interpret my Mom's grocery list (get one of each option). When I called on this one, my Mom actually asked for one of each.
• How to pick apples (red tastes better).
• How to give the right of way to a pedestrian (avoid hitting her and go first).

My Dad is slowing down; won't take a pleasure walk, but has no problem with shlepping. He says that if he has a choice of which to do, why not do the one that is needed. I see this as his philosophy of life: love is duty to those we love...we do for them as a way to show them they are loved. Mom and Dad regularly do for one another (as my partner Steve and I try to do in Maryland). I think it keeps them going. What I see is that I was raised by parents who tried to do the right thing, literally, for me and demanded the same thing from me in return. I may not always succeed, but I try to be what Steve terms "a good citizen". I think I get this from these two lovable shleppers who raised me.