Many people find
inspiration and life lessons in songs. I
guess I would say that lots of mine would come from BROADWAY MUSICALS. I grew up listening to albums of musicals that
my mom would play on our furniture-sized living room record player – Hello Dolly, Fiddler on the Roof…
My most recent inspiration
from a musical is from Avenue Q – specifically the song “There Is Life Outside Your
Apartment…”. If you haven’t seen Avenue
Q, it’s quite funny (don’t let the fact that it has puppets in it scare you
away). David and I went years ago and
got last minute rush tickets. We couldn’t
sit together, but at intermission we found one another and gushed over how amazing
the show was. And, like many musicals,
when it was over I “needed” the cast recording and I have listened to the CD
over and over.
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| Passion flower - I took this photo at the event described below. Isn't it amazing? |
I read or heard an article
(I think on NPR) once about a guy who decided to search Facebook for events and
just SAY YES to them. To GO to events,
even though they were not put on by friends or anything he was remotely interested
in. He just, as improvisors say, said, “Yes,
and…” and went with it. I was fascinated
by his story and that is what started my interest in Facebook events a few
years ago.
I love to look for
Facebook events in the areas we visit. I
have found some fun stuff to do (case in point – at sunset tonight we will sit
outside and watch “Incredibles 2” for free!).
But this week we ended up at a doozy of an event!
Here is what I saw when I searched
Facebook for stuff going on:
“Creating sangha in Ormond Beach... I have a
ton of cut bamboo from our bamboo tree and we are creating a night of new
friends, art, Thai Yoga Massage and Thai food!
Please bring:
A raw vegetable for the curry🍆🥦🥕🌶
One item to share that would fun for a dream catcher, example ( a bag of feathers, or string, or crystals/stones)
One drink item to share
This event is Free!
Please invite your friends and family! We have a beautiful outdoor kitchen, plenty of space to frolic, hammocks all over the property, load music and fire! We will also be drumming later in the night so be ready for some dancing! let’s make community happen!”
Please bring:
A raw vegetable for the curry🍆🥦🥕🌶
One item to share that would fun for a dream catcher, example ( a bag of feathers, or string, or crystals/stones)
One drink item to share
This event is Free!
Please invite your friends and family! We have a beautiful outdoor kitchen, plenty of space to frolic, hammocks all over the property, load music and fire! We will also be drumming later in the night so be ready for some dancing! let’s make community happen!”
Well…
Let’s dissect this… Ormond Beach
(Florida) is where we are, so it was nearby.
The price was right – free. We needed
to bring a raw vegetable (which we would need if we cooked our own dinner
anyway) and a drink (got that white wine in the fridge…). And we would need to bring something “fun for
a dream catcher”. Well, I have a box of
SEASHELLS that I keep adding to after beach walks…
But “Creating sangha in Ormond Beach” stumped
me… You see, Florida is more known for
Trump fans than Buddhists… But hey, I
could roll with it! And THAI YOGA
MASSAGE sounded intriguing… My click of “interested”
turned into “going” after confirming with David that he was down for the adventure. So, we grabbed a green pepper, leek, seashells,
and wine and off we went.
I expected this to be a hippy gathering,
obviously, so I chose my most “hippy shirt” to wear. The location was lauded as “Sacred Space
Ormond Beach”. Hmmm, would that be a monastery,
temple, church, house, yoga studio?? We
pulled up to the address and a man waved us in to park on the lawn of a house.
And WHAT A HOUSE! We walked through to get to the “sacred space”
in the backyard. The house was filled
with BUDDHAS! Huge, gold statues. And a big mirror covered a whole wall in the living
room. The walls and decorations were colorful
and intriguing. And the BACKYARD – the backyard
was to die for!!
It had a HUGE outdoor kitchen, with the
biggest wok I have ever seen, shelves to store funky dishware, a biiiig table
handmade of felled trees, benches made from trees… And HAMMOCKS, hammocks to beat the
band!! I think there may have been 8
hammocks for lying on and 2 hammock- like “swings” for aerial yoga. There were 2 outdoor showers and an outdoor
BATHTUB (which reminded me of the Viagra commercial). Lighting was just right. A big firepit in the middle was going and
making the whole space smell lovely.
So yeah – there we were. Two strangers who said YES. Who ended up in a place to “create sangha”
where we knew NO ONE. We introduced
ourselves and explored the yard. When we
settled at the big “tree table” we found ourselves across from the only people
our age or older that were there, and wouldn’t you know, in the midst of all of
these free-thinking, free-love hippies, probably the only trump supporter,
too. We had to listen to him rail about
the horrors of socialism and how all of the newscasters do not understand that
because of socialism, soon they will not be on the air (not sure how he made
that connection, but whatever…). I
finally had to walk away when he was talking about his amazing heart bypass 20-some
years ago that has surpassed the doctors expectations and allowed him to live a
healthy, happy life all of these years (yeah, thanks trump fan, my dad just died
after a bypass and I really don’t need you to dampen my “sangha” with your story…).
Anyway, when it was time for the arts and craft
segment of the night, the 2 older people left (turned out they were the hosts
parents and, as she described them, “very Christian” and they don’t understand her
or her lifestyle and think of it as devil-like…).
We all sat on hippy blankets in the grass and
worked on making dream catchers out of big bamboo pieces that had been trimmed from
the yard. David and I worked together and
still didn’t finish – turns out dream catchers are a lot of work! After that we gathered in the kitchen area
and ate the amazing curry that had been prepared by a woman from all of the veggies
everyone brought.
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| The group staring our dream catchers |
In talking during dinner I found out that we
were the ONLY PEOPLE there who didn’t know anyone. And wouldn’t you know it, those young hippies
were AMAZED and IMPRESSED at us old folks for seeing an event of
strangers on FB and SHOWING UP. The host
giggled and was so happy that we had come.
So, there you have it. This story isn’t about curry. Or dream catchers. Or swing yoga (which I tried and caused a
really bad vertigo attack). It is about SAYING
YES. About stepping out of your “apartment”. About being willing to just DO IT – whatever “it”
might be. Sure, you might be the oldest people
in the bunch. And yeah, your version of
a “hippy shirt” might not quite match actual hippy bootie shorts, but GO FOR
IT! Check out a performance. Go to a party. View some art. Take a dance class. EMBRACE LIFE.
And if you need a boost, let me know. I am a big fan of Facebook events and will be
happy to find one for you to attend!!
You have to promise me you will really DO it though… If you want my assistance, hit me up! You could make some fun memories, I promise. I seriously hope at least one person takes me
up on this offer.
And, as they sing in Avenue
Q, there is life outside your apartment, but you’ve got to open the door!!
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| Current state of our dream catcher - 2 days later... It isn't ready to catch dreams yet, but it is looking good and makes me smile. |
*I want to point out
clearly that I UNDERSTAND that some days getting out of bed is NOT an
option. I believe depression is REAL, and
know that the effects of it can be debilitating. This piece is not meant to say otherwise. And if you are in the throws of a “pull up
the covers and close your eyes for days” cycle, I am sorry. Virtual hugs being sent your way.
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