Respect for the lives that we live

I don't know how it has been so long since an update. Some things you must treat like a job I guess. Anything that you plan to incorporate in your life on a regular basis must have some reference to an activity that is incorporated into you life already...hence a job. Something we do every week without blinking cause you know you have to. That is how I wish I could treat yoga, jewelery making, crocheting, natural energy bar making, working out, getting better at skiing, gardening, documenting, writing, Local Spokes developing, reading...you get the picture. I do all this stuff and love it, but the gaps of time between the actions get too big. We all have outer passions that we want to create into more full time gigs. one day we all will have our lives figured out. Or maybe not.
Just wanted to add in a small update. February has been glorious in Colorado. It started with a hut trip up to the Fritz hut about 6 miles from Aspen. The hike out there took about 3 or 4 hours. I used my split board for the first time and I glided along through the Aspens and Firs in isolated perpetual happiness. Speedy one and speedy 2 (Chris and Talbott lost me pretty fast) so it was just my music, my heavy backpack and I cruising along. With the skies opening and the views of Aspen town left behind it truly was one of those days where you feel actively happy. The night continued with endless exhaustive laughter in the hut. It felt so good to be in a space build by hand deep in the woods perched on a mountain with 360 views. It made me realize even more that I need to build again and live in a space of that sort.
The month continued with with a perfect Mardi Gras day and more ridiculous laughter and behavior, a Local Spokes meeting (we are getting pumped up on our pedicab operations this summer- more on that soon!), metal work class at the college (made some wave earrings) and just a more relaxed tone then the partying that took place in January. Chris brought home 1st place from his tele competition out in Tahoe. Needless to say , he is stoked. Jumping off cliffs on skis and landing those jumps can get you that way. Then to finally bring winter into the mix last weekend we recieved 3 feet of snow up in Aspen and snowmass. Thank the gods for that one. It was an incredible 3 days. I remembered again why I love snowboarding as I swiftly cruised down the mountain floating on clouds the whole time. What a blessing that action can be for ones mind.

And now here I am out in California on a mini trip for my Uncle Tim's memorial. A bittersweet break from the winter you could say. Tim was a classic uncle. Always loved when I stopped by as I have cruised through southern california on many trips over the years. We would sit on his couch and drink greyhounds or head to the horse track and bet on some races. He had a very loving undertone with a cynical humor that made me roar out with load crazy laughter. When we were kids him and my cousins nicole and karl would come out to the Florida Keys with us. HE would video tape everything on one of those gigantic video cameras. Last time I saw him I watched the dance that Nicole and I choreographed to that Kokomo song on a pull out bed in our hotel. These times brought so much joy to Tim. He loved his family and whenever these short visits were over, after all the shit talking we all did, he would give me that sincere hug and tell me he loved me.

Uncle Tim, rest in Peace. I hope its fun up there.....

In the midst of the ceremony we are attending out here and the difficulty of that I must say this trip is needed for me right now. It is nice to get a change of place. I was feeling a little anxious the last few weeks starting to feel the season change and feeling ancy about what the next step is. It is nice to step back into the present.

All those hilarious moments

Mon o mon. There are some funny people out there. I work 2 days at a little ski shop hidden in a small enclave right off a ski run. Within this 20 hours of work lays much laughter in just the observations of people and the way they act when they are on vacation. The guy I work with calls them "muppets"///// Yes. Aren't we all muppets sometimes? Sometimes I wish I could be more of a muppet. What genius characters those were.
Much laughter is created through the joy I do get out of those purely seinfled esque moments. You know the ones. Where you catch someone doing something ridiculous and so silly that you notice it and it makes you sit back and think "wow". "Is that guy really gonna carry his skis like that?....uh uh. Oh yeah he is". It really just brings me joy if people are being themselves. Which is one of the most refreshing things you can do in the world. Because in peoples truest moments, when they dont think or notice anyone looking is where the best human observation moments occur and truth speaks between the lines. When someone wears a full piece purple ski suit from 1982 I feel like I love them. We all live in our bubbles but it is those random encounters with other people who live in their bubbles that we all pop. There is a unity within all of our diverse characteristics, flaws, philosophies that people watching must bring out in even the most cynical of us. I interact everyday with these people from halfway across the world or halfway across the state. They all come to one place to convene and to partake in vacation like activities. Most all of them live a life very different from mine and extremely unique to their own physical location and upbringing. Somedays these people may annoy the shit out of me, sometimes they say things so nonchalantly that I wish I could write a whole comedy skit about, and sometimes they are in and out so quick kind of like these thoughts.

And off we go. Like particles in the sky, like muppets on the road, like fingers on the keyboard. I enjoy these encounters with people wherever I am and know that being in tune with other people in all of there weird glory can get me through any frustrating day and bring a shining light of hilarious to any situation.

Towers of Truth surrounded by Moats of Glory

I asked you a question
I didn't need you to reply
Is it getting heavy?
And then realize
It's getting heavy
Well I thought it was already as heavy as can be

Is it overwhelming
To use a crane to crush a fly?
It's a good time for Superman
To lift the sun into the sky
Cause it's getting heavy
Well I thought it was already as heavy as can be

Tell everybody
Waiting for Superman
That they should try to
Hold on the best they can
He hasn't dropped them, forgot them or anything
It's just too heavy for Superman to lift

- Iron and Wine "Waiting for a Superman"


Listened to this song sitting on the couch and forking through the risotto I made for dinner. What is with risotto? Yes, it is good. Moistly laddened rice with that nice creamy italian flavor bouncing off of it. Oh yeah, delightful you say. But seriously, it so time consuming to cook and by the end of the whole ordeal all i could do is fork through it. I think I needed to take my mind off whatever my mind was rambling on about so I decided to make something that you need to stand over and stir for 1 hour to cook. All worth it in the end? Sure.

All I could do is listen to that song though. Something about it just makes sense. What a weekend. After Chris had a close call with death in a car accident and then getting texts all afternoon from my cousin Kathy that her son Tommy (one of my favorite people in the world) was in intensive care and maybe going to die all in one day I thought I would have a heart attack at age 28! Then I got the stomach flu, had run ins with not so desirable people, had to work and put on a happy face when all a girl wanted was to hide in comfy pants and watch movies all day cozy time.

Ahh, well all is back in order now and I am up and carrying the blocks of life and the pails of water to rebuild. They will get heavy again. Inevitable. Yet, we have to just look forward to all the days in which what we carry with us feels light and easy. When they get too heavy to carry we will put them down, take a break and get up to walk again. With those blocks we will build beautiful towers of truth encircled by clear moats of glory of that not so heavy water we carried. That water that we never spilled on the long walk to our building site.

Because we all our here to build something. Weather it is metaphorical or not doesn't really matter. Lets be honest with ourselves here. We are all in it together. So don't waste another minute. If someone else dropped their heavy pails then, by gosh, help them pick it up. Human beings are too complicated for our own good. Yet innately I feel like we just want to make wonderful things happen, be progressive, and have fun in the process. So in my mind that means we go forth down this road, whatever road it may be, and we build something useful together. It makes us see that nothing is that heavy other then our minds sometimes and that really each one of us is one little lucky schmuck taking time for granted again.