Yuma

The Universe finally let me out of Laake Havasu City, but the leave-taking was bittersweet. I truly enjoyed the town. If it wasn't for the fact that it was getting so hot, and was going to be getting a lot hotter before long, I might've stayed a while longer. I went dancing with my friend, Julie, last night and made it home and in bed by 11. Got up at 7 this morning and got ready to leave, , all the time waiting for something to stop me from leaving but was out the door by 9:30. I must say that it was with a twinge of trepidation that I secured the house in such a way that I would be unable to get back in.

Getting on the road, I had 'Children' by John Miles playing on the radio. I stopped at the edge of town to gassho (bow in gratitude) to the city. I waited until I got on the far side of Parker before I let anyone in Havasu know that I left...just in case the Universe found another reason for me to stay in town. I guess it was time as nothing appeared to call me back. The ride to Yuma was uneventful, though quite pleasant. As noon approached, it became a little too hot to be comfortable to me, though I know lots of people enjoy tempuratures in the 80's. By the time I got to Yuma, it was time to find shade or air conditioning. Since I don't think there is any shade in southern Arizona at noon, the Golden Corral got my business.

So, after eating, I went to the only place in town that I had seen green grass and sat under a tree, trying to figure out what to do. I decided that it was too hot to do much of anything. So I rode downtown and parked in front of the Golden Roadrunners Ballroom and just hung out. I figured that, since I didn't have a place to stay, I would dance and then start toward Tucson, unless the Universe had other plans for me. Apparently, It did.

As it turned out, and I met a young fellow (77) who offered me a place to stay for the weekend in exchange for some dance tips. Now, not quite 2 days later, I've made enough money to replace what I've spent since leaving Havasu. Yuma has been very welcoming thus far. I'm thinking that I may become a snowbird. Seems that a dance teacher can make a fairly good living in such a place as this... And it's the end of the season! Must be pretty cool mid-season.

"The Universe LOVES to feed me."

I've been saying this for years and lately, I have been getting many demonstrations of this Law of Attractions. Today, for example, while sitting in a grocery store researching my upcoming line of travel, two older gentlemen came in and sat down to eat at the table next to me. The 88 year old father asked mee about my boots, thinking I might bea fire fighter. I told him that I was riding a motorcycle. I told them about how I got the bike and that sparked a much longer convesation. At one point, the 60+ son asked out of the blue, "Have you eaten? I'd like to buy you a meal." Now, please understand that food had not been mentioned at anytime througout our conversation. At no point did I ask or even hint that I was hungry or that I wanted anything. This kind of thing happans all the time. I actually have to work at feeling hungry. And the only thing I do is frequently say that the Universe loves to feed me and be grateful when It does.

How different is the world than what I once thought it was! The older I get, the more I study spirituality, the more I focus on the generousity, compassion and love in life, the more thee things reveal themselves to me. As an exaample: As I was wriiting this, I recieved an email via couchsurfing.org from a woman in Tucson who has offered me a place to stay from the 30th through April 4th. So, now I have a little over a full week of places to stay while in Tucson. She says that she feels we are on a similar life path. Awesome! Life is Grand, even when it doesn't seem like it. :-)

Leaving Havasu...

Ah, what a grand little town it has been! I came for a couple weeks and stayed for three months. That, alone, speaks volumes when one understands that there is no ready place to twist balloons and no place that is good for dancing, unless one doesn't mind the smoking atmosphere of the private clubs of the Eagles and the Elks lodges. Of course, one must be either a member or be signed in by a member to be welcomed. I knew nothing about such venues when I first got here.

I want to start off by thanking my sweet friend, Julie, for her presence, friendship, and partnership during the last month. She is the most skilled female dancer I have found in Havasu...or at least, the one I most connected with on the Floor. Our matched so well that all her friends seem to think that we had become a "couple" and now that I'm leaving, that we have "broke up." Not so! We did not become a couple nor did we break up. We remain great friends and I hope I will have the opportunity to come back and dance with her again...perhaps in the Fall. Today is our one month "Annamonaversary. For those who don't know, we met one month ago today and immediately became fast friends, even though we have very different personalities. She has done a great deal to make this last month, AWESOME!

Through her, I got to meet some wonderful people: Tony, a great, very interesting, older gentleman who offered to fix my motorcycle when it needed new seals on the forks. He even blessed me with a ride in his airplane! I only wish he would've taken me up on my offer to ride my bike as it would've been something I could do to enrich his life. Cathy (Kathy?), his S.O. is a very sweet, lovely woman. We didn't get to interact a great deal, due in part to the dance connection of Julie and I, but who blessed me with the gift of a spirit-bell for the motorcycle. This is a bell that goes on a bike, close to the ground, which captures "road gremlins and evil spirits" in the hollow of the bell, but the ringing of which causes them to go insane and lose their grips, thus falling off the bike and onto the roadway and so get left behind. Nancy, who I recognize as a very generous person who gave up the attention of her good friend for a month. Though we didn't have much interaction, I truly appreciate her sacrifice.

Tammy, the only couple-dance teacher I met while here was delightful, and proved to be an ongoing friend. She was the first one that I got to dance with in town and with whom I am looking forward to working and visiting with again, should the Universe lead me back to Havasu. I hope to get some of the pictures of the show we did at the assisted living place here. I had the privileged of dancing with some beautiful women in there, most who had not danced in decades. One who stood out of a wheel chair just to have a dance-what a great honor!

Dave, my host here during the last almost 2 months, deserves a special mention for his friendhsip and generosity.  I met him when I saw him on his big yellow Goldwing. I followed him and the first words I said to him was, "Hey! You're on the wrong bike!" I knew he was because his bike and my helmet colors matched. From that odd beginning, a friendship developed, even though he lives in California and only occasionally comes to Havasu. When he heard that I hadn't found a place to stay once my rented room ran out, he offered his duplex very inexpensively and later, when it turned out that I need to stay awhile longer due to issues that I think I've already written about, even offered to let me stay for free. A very interesting fellow: until just recently, a competitive horse-back shooter.

 There are many others here who have befriended me. I am truly a blessed fellow.

I was going to leave today but didn't get ready early enough so I'm packing tonight and going to head out in the morning. This gives me a chance to put out the trash and bring in the can before I leave. As it is 10 pm now and the store is closing, I guess I have to close. Until next time, dear reader...be well.

On becoming "Me"

This is a short article I wrote to get published in a magazine, but I have no idea how to sell it so I will offer it here. If anyone knows how I might be able to sell articles, please help. I am in pretty serious need of money at the moment. Regardless of whether I ever get a penny for what I write, I hope my words are of benefit to someone.

Becoming “ME”

A child’s smile, eyes wide in wonderment, bouncing in excitement; this is what I see many times almost every day. Most of you know that I twist balloons for a living. It’s been about 36 years now. I am so blessed, children love to greet me. Many times each week, I am hugged by a happy child. Joy!

I had a difficult childhood. Lots of abuse culminating in running away from home at 15 (or was it 13?). Years of living on the streets. Thank God for a street performer by the name of Curtis Reed. He was a live mannequin that I saw when I first arrived in Hollywood, which was the only city I knew of West of the Mississippi. When I arrived, I was shoplifting to eat. After all, what does a 15 year old runaway know about making money? If it hadn’t been for him, I would likely have wound up in the porn industry.

When I saw him standing there like a wax figure, dressed as a cowboy, I was amazed. I watched him for several days before it occurred to me that I could do what he was doing. So I went down the street and tried it. I was young, innocent and handsome—though I didn’t know it at the time—and so was able to make a living even though I wasn’t all that good at it when I started. A week after I arrived in Hollywood, I was approached by a man who convinced me that he was a porn producer. If it hadn’t been for the fact that I had found an easy way to make money, I likely would have gone with him and life would have been much different for me. From this, I have learned that if one just does what one feels is theirs to do, it is possible to change a life and never even know it.

For many years now, I have been very interested in learning how we come to believe that we are who we think we are, which isn’t who we are at all. I pay attention to how parents and their children interact as they come before me. Sometimes a child will be a little leery of this strange man blowing balloons in front of them and the parent will say, “She’s shy.” Yet, this shy girl might be hanging on my knee (I sit on a small stool when I twist) a moment later to watch me draw a face on her balloon kitty. What happened to the shy girl?

It occurs to me that, from the time of infancy until a child reaches about 7 or so, ther parents are quite literally, God, the One and Only. After all, what does a baby know of the world? Everything from how to drink water to who they are is taught by the parents. Older siblings help with this training because they have already been through it. But what do the parents actually know about the world?

I was curious about who my parents were when I was going through this period of Parents-as-God time, so about 20 years ago, I found a young woman with three small children who had recently gotten out of an abusive marriage and spoke with her of her hopes and dreams. She had no clue who she actually was or how the world worked beyond what it took to keep her and her children safe and fed. She hadn’t had time to think about the deeper aspects of life. In other words, she had no clue who she was or how she got that way.

Then I went to a bar and found an aggressive, young man about 26 (the age of my father when I was born) who had three young children and spoke with him for a little while. Again, I was talking with someone who had no clue what the world was like or how he had come to believe the things he believed. These two were representative of the two people who were most influential in programming my young mind. Neither had a clue.

So, I watch as parents talk to their children as though the child has experience with what is being discussed. I watch as the children imitate their parents when the parents aren’t noticing. Occasionally I will see an attractive young mom shrink back from a guy in the audience—perhaps she had been attacked by someone who looked or smelled like him—and I will see the young daughter also shrink back, not having a clue WHY Mom is reacting in such a way. Children often interpret stimuli much differently than it is presented to them, usually for the simple reason that the parent doesn’t wonder how the child, innocent of past experience, is experiencing the new information.

Then, usually by ten years old, children begin to notice that MAYBE their parents are humans, not God. Often, they have been to church and have been taught that God is somewhere else. So they begin to rebel. Still, our parents often retain a “special” place in our minds. There are our parents, and then everyone else. I know that I didn’t see my parents as just ordinary people doing the best they could until I was in my thirties; I was nine years old when my Mom turned thirty.

So, how did you come to believe the world is as you believe it is? How did you come to believe you are who you think you are? Have you ever wondered what you were taught before your memory gave you words to remember? What did you learn from your parents that they had no idea they were teaching? What are you inadvertently teaching your children by not maintaining the understanding that he or she has no experience with what you are doing and why you are doing it?

Twisting and pain. (Posting two weeks after writing)

It has been an interesting weekend. First, a comment about my daughter, Cly: she is an absolutely amazing author! I've been reading her latest version of her book, 'Dragon Tamer' and it is a breath-taking epic novel, the first in a long series... And if she doesn't have it finished by the end of this month, well, let's just say that she doesn't want to know what would happen...

This was the weekend of Winterfest here in Lake Havasu City. I twisted so many balloons yesterday, and at such a high rate of speed that I threw out my right elbow: lots of pain! I made it back "home" and took the last of my vicodin and woke up this morning wishing I had more. My arm has been hurting from the shoulder to wrist. It feels like every muscle has crystalized and then shattered. But, got to work when the work is there, twisting today was a serious challenge. This was a first, and it will hopefully be the last time it has happened.