I can't say I'm still blissed out about it, but there is never enough time while life is actually happening to record it, so I am taking advantage of downtime in the office to tell you about a weekend that spanned three vital aspects of my life right now. It wasn't until all three events were over actually that I realized what an amazing watershed weekend it had been.
Last Friday I drove up to Northampton, Massachusetts for an evening of kirtan with Krishna Das, and to reconnect with an Omega freind who lives nearby. Trish and I had been playing telephone tag for months actually, always missing one another but leaving loving little messages. Even up to the day before we were supposed to meet, we hadn't actually spoken since August. But I knew that everything would work out perfectly. With little effort on our parts. And sure enough, when I actually arrived in Northampton and gave her a ring, she picked up. And as she drove into town, and called me, I saw her with the phone to her ear in her car, so knew exactly which street to walk down to catch up with her.
We had a great dinner, a few lovely glasses of wine and of course the essential ingredient of any fabulous dinner: intimate conversation. Trish is devoted to living a life of seva, or service. She worked in wilderness training in Oregon counseling at risk teens before coming to Omega last summer as a life guard. And is now thinking of joining the Peace Corps in a program that will allow her to get nursing credentials. She's one of those rare and beautiful people who is a life light. And spending time with her was a life giving shot in the heart.
She calls me her chanting buddy, and we stood in the freezing cold outside of First Churches until the doors opened, talking about how Omegans feel a special connection to KD, and how it is an ego thing. Somehow we feel that the kirtans at Omega are better than they are anywhere else. I imagine because we ourselves are most comfortable there. It's home to us. Home in our hearts.
The space at Omega is certainly more intimate. The cavernous church was filled pretty much to capacity on the main floor. And Trish and I decided to join the few people who had spread out on the floor right in front of KD, instead of sitting in the pews.
Two hours of chanting goes by in a flash. It always feels to soon to stop. One wants to remain forever in that space, that embrace.
But the chanting does end. And after saying hello and good bye to the tabla player who we know from Omega as well, and stopping to chat with KD, Trish and I headed out into the cold New England night. Instead of driving the two hours home, I decided to take her up on her offer of spending the night and we drove through snow covered small towns for about a half an hour, getting me that much closer to my own home for the next morning's drive. We stayed up chatting until I couldn't keep my eyes open.
The next morning, I got up and drove across the Mass Pke and down the Taconic, chanting to my KD and Shaymdas cds the whole way. Once home, I spent the day doing laundry and scurrying around to get ready to get back into the city for the opening of an exhibition at Exit Art that I'm in called The Studio Visit. By the time we drove into the city I was really not looking forward to going out at all. And was having a major fashion crisis. I so rarely dress up anymore. And wasn't sure whether to dress up in jeans, or dress down in dress up clothes. It seems to me now, whenever I dress up I look like a middle aged women, which I am, but who wants to look like one? It's a dilemna without a solution. But, I wore bright red lipstick, which Larry always loves. And managed to pull myself together well enough to feel festive without feeling over the top.
By the time we reached the gallery on 36th and 10th, I was anxious to get in there. And when I saw the scene that was going on, I was completely blown away. I hadn't imagined it would be such a big deal, but there were people spilling out onto the streets to watch the artists who had converted the windows into their studios. And inside, I couldn't get to the bar to get a glass of wine to save my life. It was packed. I was pretty much a deer caught in the headlights.
I ran into my friend Karen who I'd met when we were both in prayingproject at Exit Art. And a while later was taken by surprise when one of the sensei's from my karate school came up to me. It took me a minute to make the connection. I'd sent my karate freinds Melissa and Linda the invite, and I was really grateful, because I didn't think anyone I knew would actually show up. We all stood around waiting for my video clip to come on, which it never did in the booth we were standing by. But after pretty much everyone had left, Karen and I were able to see it in another booth. Larry spent the evening taking photos.
By the time we left, it was after 11 and Larry hadn't had anything to eat all day, so we drove around the city trying to find a place to eat. Kept striking out, til we landed at Haru on Park Avenue where we had great sushi and sake, a perfect ending to the night.
The next morning we had to get up early to go to Kigami Biraki, a traditional Japanese New Year celebration at the dojo where we all work out in high spirit. Hundreds of push ups and sit ups, punches, and because there's not enough room for full out kicks, knee kicks. Kaicho gave a talk about fear and how it is human to be afraid, but we need to not let it stop us. For me, it was particularly poignant.
So it was a beautiful weekend. Chanting. Art. Karate. And most important, the thread through it all - comradarie and community. It felt like those three days held my life in their arms. And I am still walking around in a bit of a daze perhaps, a little off balance from the intensity of it all. Sometimes life is not too beautiful, but just beautiful enough.
