could have been a signpost, could have been a clock

donna is so right-on. JVC: NW did deal us a great set of cards. you know that their slogan "ruined for life" has always bothered me. really. since the first time i heard it at camp adams in portland, oregon. i would prefer to think of it as enriched for life. or to borrow a gardening metaphor, that my b.f.'s jeremy's drinking pals in oxford used to say when boys were laying the groundwork with the girls they fancied: spaded for life.

15 years ago (give or take a week) donna, dana, carey tee and i met our housemates, kim, paul, ed, scott, and elaine in oregon for a retreat before we boarded a plane, north to alaska. one year later, we had really been through so much individually and together. so much stuff that i have deeply suppressed much if not most of it. i do, however, fondly recall the total sense of wonder that i had when we arrived in our lil' mid-century ranch house.

for people who have never really heard of intentional communities, what can i say? the year was a lot like the early years of the real world, except without the cameras and the nice, brightly colored furniture. we didn't have a hot tub, but toward the end, at our last retreat, we built our own sweat lodge. and instead of mystic tan, we all worked really exacting jobs in local social service agenices. let me tell you how hard it snowed that year: donna and i shoveled the roof to remove the 100' of snow that accumulated. but, we made the best of it. i joined ed and scott for a helluva of a lot of camping/hiking trips. it seemed to me, we may have gone away 2-3 weekends/month. donna, scott, ed and i even went to the pipeline outside of fairbanks in the middle of winter. donna -- we were insane to make that trip as i think back on it now. really, what were we thinking crossing north through the state in that borrowed station wagon after work on a friday night in february? with scott and ed? (but, donna ended up being even nuttier and eventually teaching for years on the bering sea and in kotzebue.)

we committed to live simply and in community, to deepen/develop our spirituality, and to work for social justice. and in our house, because of ed, the man i was totally smitten with, we also decided to give up television. (on the latter, on both counts, i still wonder now, wow! what was i thinking?)

at this point, i should add that my mutha, who joined a pre-vatican 2 religious order, actually had the audacity to tell me repeatedly that it was a cult and that i should be careful of what i drank.

anyway...that was an important year for me. it was hard as hell for me -- largely because of my colleagues' lively, troubled personalities at the shelter where i worked. but it was important and wonderful to live in alaska especially with the women pictured in yesterday's posted photo -- and with the others as well. really, each of them also added to the mix and helped me to learn. it's too bad that more of us couldn't meet in july. it would have been great to see kim and her children. and to see paul and kaci and their girls, and scott and meagan and their three! and maybe elaine and her children would have made us some christmas stew or chicken soup? i would even like to see ed and his family.

at any rate, here are some things i am grafeful for today...
(and let me assure you, this habit of posting the gratitude journal won't go on for very long...)

• the usps.
• debra perlson and the flow studio.
• my psoas.
• salad nicioise
• guy raz has returned to npr.
• last night at nga's sculpture garden with barb, miss bird, and elaina.