Bloom where you are planted🌹🌷

What does that mean exactly? I have heard this expression a lot in my life.  I always felt a pull to travel and see the world.  I tried leaving Santa Clarita in my early 20’s when I took a traveling job in the Midwest with a college friend. (Karen Burg).  We worked at small towns in the Midwest as relief for physical therapy departments who needed temporary staffing or vacation relief.  I had the time of my life but I ultimately came home with a broken heart.  A nice Midwestern boy stole my heart and then broke it in a matter of a few months.  I never went back.  I was lost and confused.  A few months later my prince in a speedo (He was in a bathing suit but it sounded so much better to say speedo!) shared a lane with me at the local college pool and the rest is history,  Or I should say another chapter!

Back to the title.  “You grow where you are planted.”   If I didn’t hold still long enough to be planted, how can I establish roots??  Good question!!

I had a wonderlust from an early age.  Travel was in my blood.  I dreamt of far off places.  I imagined living in other country’s.  I grew up sheltered in a small town and with a family whose adventures involved a tent, a cast iron skillet and 4 kids in the back of a Cadillac, bumping down some dirt road in California.  In high school I had an opportunity to take a trip to Europe.  An English teacher was leading the group.  I knew my parents didn’t have the money to send me but I asked anyway.  My mother insisted she go as well, as a chaperone, so my dad had to find the money for both of us, and he did!   It was an incredible eye opening experience to a world I knew existed.  I knew then that I would eventually travel.

My fate changed when I met Andy in the pool at College of the Canyons.  Me, with a recent broken heart from a good old boy from Nebraska.  Him very single.  We connected on our first date and BOOM!!!!  I was locked in Santa Clarita!!  OH shit!!!  I did not want to live here.  I was trying to find a way out.  Our eyes locked, It was love and he owned a business and that was that!!!  We bought a house, had a couple of kids, and traveled as much as we could.  We have had a wonderful life together.  Secretly, we BOTH wanted the same thing.  OUT!!!  We got sucked into suburbia, 2 kids, a mortgage and a bunch of STUFF!!!!  The houses got bigger, the stuff got more expensive, the trips got more lavish and longer.  The life we created was AWESOME!!!  Lots of people looked at us and thought we had  “MADE IT!”  We had!   It was wonderful.  The reality was that, as much as I loved all my stuff,  I loved hosting great parties,  I loved having everyone over and I loved nice things,  I always secretly wanted to just run away.  I know that sounds weird.   I was gathering,  but I never was really attached to any of it.   People who know me would say they don’t believe that.  I was the party planner, entertainer.   I had like 40 platters for god sake!!!   I could have 12 people over, unplanned on a Friday night and create a meal out of thin air.  Yes, I was that good!!   I was giving and giving but I never got filled back up.  Something was lacking.  I always dreamed of traveling to some far off place.  I always went to bed dreaming that one day we would set off and see the world.

That day is now.  It’s happening.  We made it happen.  Not without great sacrifice though.

I’m sure by now,  if your reading this,  you have read up to this part of our journey.  Deciding to sell off most of our worldly possessions and live and travel on our boat.  Spending months getting our boat ready.  Shipping it to Florida.   Spending the first  2 months  in the Bahamas and then back to Florida.  Well, it has been a dream come true.  We spend a lot of time shaking our heads and we cannot believe we pulled off the first part.  We have come to realize that purging all the stuff was hard, and maybe it was really the hardest part.  So far I have no regrets.  The house is sold,  all the stuff is sold or given away.   The important stuff is being watched over by my daughter.   It’s a very small amount of things.  I have learned that I need so much  less.  I am so much happier.  Life became simple.  It’s surreal!!  What’s really surreal is the adventure.

We came home to California after our first leg to the Bahamas.  I needed to ground myself again.  Not in the soil of Santa Clarita,  but in the heart and soul of the people I dearly love.  Missing my friends has been  hard.   Being far away from everyone, all my family and friends  has been hard.   I have learned that being  “planted”  means being  “connected.”   I don’t need to be stuck in the earth  like a tree.  I need my roots to be free to reach out and connect with anyone who wants to be part of my journey.    We continue to grow but really,  we do not need to be planted.  Planted feels like being stuck.  I want to move freely,  not stuck.  I saw mangroves where the roots are open to the air and in the water.  I saw weeds floating freely in the ocean being carried by currants.  I see the stars, moon and sun that change their position as the earth moves.  I see the animals who move freely from where they are born and then leave and return to nest and breed.  I feel a very deep bond to moving and free energy.   I feel if we are “planted” then we get stuck.  Don’t be afraid to “unplant” yourself.  I promise you will be a whole new energy of life and spirit that you cannot imagine.  It’s liberating.

My trip back home was important.  I needed to reconnect with my people.  It was a whirlwind.  I got lots of couch cuddled with the grand puppies.  I got time with my parents.  I enjoyed dinners with my brothers and their families.  I got to see my son.  We got to enjoy the incredible wildflowers that are blooming everywhere after a very wet winter, the mountains were just covered in them.  We had Dr. appointments.  We signed escrow papers for the house!  YES!!!  We partied like rock stars with our F-Dock friends who we so badly miss.  We caught up with friends.  I took my mother and daughter to the Historic Mission Inn for a getaway and spa day.  We sat in LA traffic getting places.  We ate lots of Mexican food (I have had my fill).   I made tons of bracelets and restocked the store.  I feel refueled.  I am ready for journey part 2.   Thank you everyone who took time to see us.   I am sorry to those we missed.  We just ran out of time.   Andy came home with the flu so our last day was spent in bed.   All in all we had a great time and we feel recharged.