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“It is not the end of the physical body that should worry us. Rather, our concern must be to live while we’re alive – to release our inner selves from the spiritual death that comes with living behind a facade designed to conform to external definitions of who and what we are.”
~ Elizabeth Kubler~

Last night was a wake up call after a long conversation with a good Friend of mine. A sprouting Friendship while supporting each other throughout our grieving having reached and kept on stepping up onto new heights. My nights and days since we left The Oasis onward to Louisiana, facing a surgery not quite planned, rehabilitation, lost in my deep thoughts, all have been, I have to admit, "depressing" while at the same time I could not put my finger on the real causes. We are never in control of our Life, I sure am not and enjoyed that aspect these past years and I had lost the surprise element so dear to me. Suddenly, as all these are discoveries from our conversation, I wanted to be in control and it tore me apart. Today once again, as my Friend said, my only decision on this beautiful morning was to decide what kind of coffee I will drink… I hope you all have a Friend or Friends as I do who can plant a mirror in front of you and make you realize the rocky hills you do not want to climb when "things" starts getting dark and the clouds linger a bit too long. I hope you do because at times as hard as we try we cannot save ourselves from a path staring at us too close to see it.

The surprise element has been my daily strength these past years. Every morning not knowing what the day will bring and by the end of that same day with often a big smile always amazed of the gifts received while letting Life and Mother Nature control us. I have found myself lately thinking way too much ahead. As far ahead as next winter! Where will we be? Where will we be going? When is The Oasis going to sell to make our Life financially a bit easier as Social Security only goes so far? Too many questions raising too much incertitude which also have yet no answers and sure, I can think about it but I have been dwelling on them almost 24/7. Maybe even in my sleep…

As someone told me a while back which I also talked about briefly at the end of our short video made with Go Pro, I am "lucky" to have found this path. "The Road"… Paved, unpaved, all with many choices while reaching intersections, our slow pace only dictated by the weather and time of the year, the knowledge acquired on how to live in this fashion which by now has become second nature. We have food, I have my medicine, some medical care, I have the best companion ever "Mr. Spirit", we now have a nice shelter and while being careful fuel money. We have solar, a small generator, everything today is mechanically sound, I have these pages which I enjoy sharing and a few cameras for photos and videos at times. We can still ride. Not as before yet but a few miles here and there. I have had two great Doctors for the spine and the hip, again, how much luckier can I get? And I do not forget a couple true Friends.

All was too close to see it while being "thrown" back into a society I have avoided for so long. And within also, even the ones we meet for a few minutes and exchange present conversations, there are a lot of nice people out there, kind with their words and thoughts. It is not all as bad as I often thought. I stopped seeing the beauty that surrounds us. I of course lost that while recuperating between four walls but those are now gone and sunrises, sunsets, all again are in my line of vision. I have such a big sigh of relief as even worried a bit about myself for a while. I never want to go back into that dark tunnel with no light, the one we exited from years past. I don’t know how I got out of it. An inner strength maybe? Karma? A blind path subconsciously placed in front of us? If I may say so myself it has been quite an accomplishment. I felt facets of Life I do not wish on anyone and some enlightening ones I wish on everyone. There is always a light at the end of a tunnel. It would not otherwise be called a tunnel.

I briefly, while sipping on my morning coffee, ask myself "and where do we go from here?". That thought is now immediately erased. I don’t want to know. I just want the day to take us as it has always before our path having never let me down. I might cook some, ride some, take a nap later, read, write… who knows? I stand again on that plate which I had slipped away from. I am planting myself firmly. Those recent past steps sure have been backwards. Here we are climbing again…. as on we go and go.

It did not take long for the day to dish out an adventure. One I savored all day. Someone on Instagram wrote me about their Pizza truck in Waco. I love a good Margherita Pizza since I am not fond of commercial tomato sauce. 50 miles for a Pizza? I thought doable. Seems that the more we ride the better my hip feels. That might be an overlooked physical therapy aspect! Nice ride while realizing soon enough that Waco is a big city. For us. Magnolia Market Silos was the destination and as we turn into it I am immediately overwhelmed by the crowds and of course the gazillion cars running and parked everywhere. We passed by noticing a police officer standing and chatting with the tourists, make a U-turn to talk to him and get the lay of the land, sort of. As I also ask him why this place is so crowded he explains me that a certain television show has made this Market very famous. OK….

We now know where to Park. There is a short video on our Instagram page: arawithspirit. Instagram is allowing 60 seconds videos and I am enjoying editing and posting even if some contents are edited videos from the past. A 60 second video is just right and always to the point. So anyhow, we get to the parking lot, literally feet away from the Pizza truck which was behind a fence with an open gate and I suddenly feel my clutch cable is fraying held up by only a few strands. The weather was a bit warm, hundreds of people walking by, I got lazy and did not want to replace it with a spare I always carry with us. The breakage is just about a yearly thing! Helmet on again we head back taking the Highway for a straight shot to camp and while in town shifting as many times possible without a clutch. It is only a matter of the right RPM… The cable did not break. We made it back and no Pizza!

Today the rains have started and the new cable will have to wait. I think I will cook me a nice rice and chicken dinner with some curry, cinnamon, lemon juice and whatever else I can find… Take a nap, read… Life is good again.

Will see what tomorrow brings on…

Stay well,
              Ara and Spirit