Reentering

Slieve Aughty Center

 Here I am. In the desert. But in someways my mind has not come back from Ireland. Mind? Maybe heart would be a better description. I've been using my mind as I get school plans ready, grocery shop and make dinner (no small feat after having personal chefs), and start back into work. Yesterday I spent about half the day at this computer creating a class and a presentation to go with it! 

Reentry. It's an interesting word.

Our third night on our herbal tour was the full moon. After a full day in a remnant of an ancient forest we had eaten and danced the night away at a pub. When we pulled up to our lodgings after dark (sunset was close to 10pm) and so tired we were greeted with this view. We had seen peeks of it along the drive but this. This was fantastic and another notch on a magical day.

Glengarriff, Co. Cork

This was my first experience on a "tour" but I don't think this was anything like what most would experience. A bus full of like minded people, a bus driver in Hawaiian shirts, guides who were more like family by the end, and experiences like no other. We did not go places other tour busses were parked, we went some placed maybe a tour bus should not have parked! We saw more trees than people. We bush peed more than we used public toilets. And may I add what an invigorating experience it is to pee in a nettle patch! Don't worry, no stings.

Burren National Park

I made connections I will never forget. Connections to the land, ancestors, myself, Fern, plants, trees, and new friends. Those connections were unlike any I think I've made before. During our opening circle we each had an opportunity to say our intentions for this trip out loud. Mine were to find peace and connection. Some of the places we stood held more peace than I even thought existed. A lot of friends have joked since I got back that they didn't know if I would come home...yea...

Wild thyme and orchids on the Burren

Each day during my morning time with myself I have been letting something from the trip come back to my mind. There is usually some meaning about it, however small. And there is always something. This morning it was these small shells, Common Limpet. They are in my Irish Seashore field guide under, "Snails, Mussels, and their Relatives" and it says they are characteristic of Irish rocky shores. I brought a couple old washed up ones home. These make me think of how at home I felt on that shore, the same at homeness I actually feel on my Grandma's beach. A place most sacred and special to me. At the time it felt surprising and exciting. I felt alive in a way I haven't. It made me miss home (San Diego) and feel at home all at the same time. It made me think if ancestors who maybe felt that way as they stood in places in the United States. A connection even though it was not home. 

This has been a good daily practice for me. A way to feel and sit while also reentering my life here. No lie it has not been all rosy. I have had some hard conversations with myself and have felt melancholy too. 

Leili just came in and said, "if you got half way to Ireland (Dan is on the east coast) I think you would just go and then tell us after you got there"! Ha Ha!

So here I am. Reentering. 💛