Photo of friends and me (on the left) in San Francisco.

I HAVE A TICKET to fly to Bali in 8 days.

I will not be on that plane. I’m on a journey that has led to peace in my family, new beginnings with the kind of people that drew me to San Francisco in the first place, and what I’d like to think is a major growth spurt. It’s about being in liminality, the void between the old and the new. And not running out on the process. As George Strait sings "You don’t know where you’re goin’ till you know where you are." I’ll be home in San Francisco for July. Brazil in August. In September, Turkey! - THERE ARE ONLY 3 SPOTS LEFT AND EIGHT DAYS TO SIGN UP for this WORKSHOP aboard a TURKISH YACHT. Scroll down a couple of blogs for the details. Don’t miss out on this amazing experience! Here’s to you, Robin

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I’ve been asked about where I am and what I’m doing so many times in the past few weeks, that I decided it was time for another blog. Here it is as emailed to a friend today:

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Five years ago I ended up in San Francisco just 40 miles from where I’d been born. The City By the Bay was to be the nest from which I would take exploratory flights in search of a nifty nest abroad. Oh, but how I dug my talons in, trying with all my might to put off that final flight.

But the doors shut anyway. And excuses fell flat, like shuffled cards.

Not that I wanted to cancel or anything. In another year I’d be wondering why I hesitated. I knew the routine by now. Still…

It is almost time to go.

In a successful attempt at idomatic expression in her second language, my French housemate said, “Robin, time to sheet o get awf d’ poht.”

Meanwhile, I started reading a new book today…

In the story, “Ishmael” by Daniel Quinn, a guru gorilla says to his student hu-man,
“‘According to your maps, the world of thought…ends at the border of your culture and if you venture beyond that border, you simply fall off the edge of the world.” And then he promises, ‘Tomorrow, we’ll screw up our courage and cross that border. And as you’ll see, we will not fall off the edge of the world. We’ll just find ourselves in new territory.”

The media guru Marshall McLuhan said the same thing more tersely: Once you can see the boundaries of your environment, they are no longer the boundaries of your environment.’”

More tomorrow…

Robin
www.robinsparks.com

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Life is short and we have not too much time
for gladdening the hearts of those
who are traveling the dark way with us.
Oh, be swift to love! Make haste to be kind.

Henry Frederic Amiel - 1885

(thanks to Rose for this, and welcome back from Bali!)

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The next door neighbor in my new Noe Valley (SF neighborhood) digs, tapes a different quote in his window every morning.

Here is today’s and my favorite:
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What a year! The past three months especially have been auspicious. I’ll fill you in in my next journal. Until then I wish you love and serenity wherever you may be. Happy holidays and huge blessings on you all. — RobinSalvador, Brazil

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My rear view mirror filled with pick-up trucks and SUV’s and then they were all around me. The sides of the freeway sprouted signs. MACY’s, WALMART, HOME DEPOT, TARGET, and IN AND OUT BURGERS. Bumper stickers on rear windshields said Vote Bush/Cheney. I pulled into an Albertson’s parking lot and saw a real cowboy. Where was I?
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When the curtain rose on the Bale Folclorico da Bahia at the Zellerbach Auditorium in Berkeley last night, the sparse crowd applauded politely. Sandra and I were amazed that so few people had shown up.

Two intermission-less hours later, the oh so cool Berkeleyites were out of their seats dancing in the aisles. You weren’t a living, breathing human being if you weren’t.

Video (Click to watch, right-click and “Save as” to save to your computer and watch from there.)
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An old friend from my Tahoe days, visits me in San Francisco. We haven’t spoken in over four months, pre-Brazil.

“Natasha” has a new condo in the East Bay with a private lake, a tennis court, AND she adds proudly, “It’s in a gated community”.

Perplexed, I ask, “What are you afraid of?”

“Are you joking?” she says. “Haven’t you been watching the news? What about that guy who was killed at the Giants game and how about that woman who disappeared last week in Oakland?”
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Left Coast Writers Meeting. Larkspur, California. Four days after my return to the US. Fellow writer: “Wow Robin, just back from Brazil! How does it feel?”

“I don’t know. I’m still processing it.”

I wasn’t back. Not all of me.

There’s not a lot of sympathy wasted on jet lag. It’s a problem everyone would like to have.
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