Family & More

I went to my family reunion in Bloomfield, Iowa on July 18th. We gathered at The Reunion Memorial Garden to remember and honor our family. This photo is of that garden. We begin each reunion this way. This was 25th Anniversary of the reunion and over 85 people were in attendance. It was a wonderful event.

I realize I haven't blogged for awhile, and can only say that my life has been busy. I was only back in Illinois a week before I went to Iowa for a week. I was once again in Illinois for a week when I returned to the west coast. This time to California.

I am near Burbank, California and am in retreat with some dear and loving friends. We call our retreat Camp Harmony. There are five of us here in attendance, and until Monday I had only met my dear friend Maria. Friendship with her is what we all have in common. That and being spirit and energy conscious people. It is hard to describe what this spiritual retreat is like. The words that come to mind are intense and loving. We almost instantly created a deep and loving bond that has allowed us to to "do" some intensive intrapersonal work. We each are working on issues that we wanted to work past.

For instance, I worked with my inner child Ricky yesterday. I intuited that this wounded child was part of my weight issue. This inner child has surrounded himself with fat to both protect itself and to be noticed. I'm sure there are those reading this that will not understand what I am talking about. And that is fine. It's my experience. I will just share that it was a emotionally draining hour. It is hard to describe the exercise to those who have not done inner work other than to use the word intense. I feel this event brought profound healing to me and is typical of the work we are doing while in retreat. And today is just day four of our week long retreat.

I will returning to Illinois next Wednesday for two days and then I'm returning to Iowa. My cousin has invited me to house sit while his family vacations. I intend to use the time to edit my book.

I live a nearly miraculous life. No. Let me correct that. I do live a miraculous life!

The journey continues.

Home?

I have arrived in Green Valley, Illinois. These daylillies are from my collection and are part of the front yard in my old house. My ex-wife is graciously letting me stay here while I am in transition. This is not home, and neither does Iowa feel like home. If I had to say where home was, I would say Oregon. It feels very surreal as I continue to meet and catch up with my friends. I have a very busy July and it may be August before I work on editting the book but I did come to a realization today.

Many of you were aware that I spent a lot of time in 2007 at the Pekin Riverfront writing. Between meetings, I returned there today to a bit of computer work. I realized I could edit my book there. It would seem almost poetic as many of the writings included in the book were received at the riverfront.

Other than a delightful summer cold, I am doing well.

The Journey continues.

It's not a secret

My last post indicated that I was editing my last chapter which I did complete. The truth is that I have received the last words, and the book is basically complete. This is the first draft and it is not ready for a publisher yet, but neither do I need to remain in Oregon. I had a dear friend ask if this was a secret and why it wasn't posted on my blog. And I realized she had a point, this information is not a secret. But she had another observation as well. I am on the left side of the country to do the creative portion of the book and am moving back east to do the editing or the critical portion . Which corresponds with using the left/right part of the brain. Although I am just moving to back to the Midwest, I liked her observation.

This picture is of the Rogue River Gorge that I visited week before last. I left Oregon as of July 1st. I spent a couple of days in Santa Rosa visiting my cousins and then a couple of days with a dear friend in San Leandro. We went to visit the redwoods again which is always a mystical experience for me.

And today, I am in Coalville, Utah just east of Salt Lake City.

The Journey continues.

Oh, and would you like to know the last words I received from God . . . they were "And I love you."