This Love's in Season

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[anecdotesfromanotherlife]

Hello friend!

As you may know by now, Asia has had me in it’s clutches since 2011, and I’m finally submitting to it whole heartedly and moving abroad. In just 10 short days, I will lug 3 enormous suitcases to the airport, pay a ridiculous amount in baggage overage fee’s, and board a plane...

[potent-quoteables]

[feelings-from-heart]

[thislovesinseason]

[thislovesinseason]

October. It’s getting chilly. 

I went to my storage unit today to swap my flip flops and breezy tunics for boots and chunky sweaters. Upon pulling it open, i found myself standing there in the autumn breeze, staring, bewildered, at all my stuff. SO much stuff. What am i doing with all this stuff? Furthermore, what is all my stuff STILL doing in here? And I wonder if anyone from Storage Wars would bid on this unit? 

And then it dawned on me. Perhaps I have a serious aversion to commitment. Perhaps I haven’t updated that resume not out of pure laziness, but because I don’t want to find a ‘real’ job. Perhaps I haven’t gotten caught up in a relationship because I know deep down inside I’m not looking for one. Perhaps I’m all too willing to run far, far away, for an undisclosed period of time, because that’s when I feel most alive. That is when I’m happiest. 

As I’m thinking this I spot a ball of white, fuzzy dog fur attached to the corner of a box, and I choke up at the thought of my Cali gal and how much I miss her. I think of how she was the one really, REALLY pulling me back here in the first place, and all of a sudden, that part of my life is over. And it’s so strange to think that I won’t ever again wake up to the jangling of her dog tags, or have her lick my ankles when I step out of the shower, or have her rub her nose to my face when I get home… and all of this breaks my heart. Totally, utterly, completely crushed. 

But at the same time, perhaps it frees my soul a bit, just as it does hers. 

Bouncing over a white cloud, killing the blues. 

XO - ALO

[blueshadeofgreen]

What. am. i. doing?

I find myself, at 28 years young, more confused than ever. I am a college graduate. I am an experienced professional. I am a world traveler. I am a sister, daughter, and maid of honor. I am a dog lover, concert go-er, and bubble blower. A tea sipping, skinny dipping, turquoise...

[saturated-love]

Tattoos. Ink. Body art.

Call it what you will. I find it beautiful. Fascinating. Lovely.   

Some folks think of tattoos as a permanent, serious commitment - and while that is true in some context, I tend to look at the body in which we live this life as temporary. Personally, this makes the thought of a little ink a lot less intimidating, a lot less serious, and a lot less scary… which brings me to my most recent addition.

While in Pai, Thailand recently, I took the plunge and got a long awaited bamboo tattoo. The artist attaches several fine needles to the end of a bamboo stick, dips it in ink, and ‘tap tap tap’, the tattoo is underway.

And let me tell you, it’s the way to go; no pain (sure, some ever-so-slight discomfort), no blood, no scabbing, and virtually no healing time. The ink is able to settle deeper, the artist is able to get more detailed, and it is so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Bonus was I got to count the geckos running across the ceiling at any given moment. It’s how the monks roll, and I’ve come to the conclusion those Buddhists have got it mostly figured out. 

Upon completion (about 50 minutes in the chair) I immediately wanted another. Until we meet again, Thailand. 

[saturated-love]

Scenes from Southeast Asia.

“Of the gladdest moments in human life is the departure upon a distant journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of routine, the cloak of many cares and the slavery of home, man feels once more happy.” — Richard Burton, Journal

[saturated-love]

Highlights from Mother India. 

“And with each mile, my heart was flying toward the sacred soils of India and a rendezvous I knew I could not live without.” - Radhanath Swami, The Journey Home: Autobiography of an American Swami 

[saturated-love]

Happiness. Listen up, folks. This man is IT.