Labor Day Weekend?

Besides not being celebrated, this is what Labor Day weekend isn't in Bali...

1. It isn't worrying about covering your garden at night with the oncoming frost. There isn't any frost.
2. It isn't saying goodbye to summer. It is saying goodbye to the tourists that swarm the streets with guidebooks and sunburns.
3. It isn't getting ready for school to start, after a short orientation week full of meetings. School is in the third week, after three weeks of orientation.
4. It isn't having one final camp out by the lake with friends, huddling in down puffy coats. It's figuring out how lovely the beaches will be when it is less crowded.
5. It isn't getting excited about the upcoming Sisters Folk Fest next weekend. But it is more contemplative about not being there and being present here.

What Labor Day weekend is in Bali...

1. A reminder that my home has temporarily shifted around the world.
2. A weekend to swim in the Indian Ocean with new friends.
3. A reality check that I can either live for work or work to live.
4. A milestone in the short lives of my kitties that I now foster/own. Two finally used a litter box today.
5. Saying goodbye to my SHS email. Officially out of the loop now.


Yes, another weekend and another blog entry. A few reality checks that I have had today connect to Labor Day weekend. Where was I a year ago? I was scrambling to leave for a two month trip to Nepal. I was organizing what Ten Friends projects Sally and I would check on while there and what treks I wanted to do. I was excited about Otis and my sister Thea meeting me there. I was getting my curriculum in order at school for all my classes so the sub could come in and take over easily. I was worrying about the Yearbook getting off to a good start without me there. I was organizing my house so two strangers (to each other) could move in and take care of my life while I was gone. I was worried about my dog. She misses me when I am gone too long. I was packing for my cousin's wedding in Mexico, right after Nepal. I was excited about the adventure change brings.

And here I am now, over a month living in Bali. I had no idea I would be here a year ago. If you had said, "Mary, you're moving to Indonesia next year." I would have laughed, "yeah, right!" But here I am. The funny thing is, I I don't think I had a choice to come here. I needed to move here. I didn't know it a year ago. But now I do. I am not sure what I will find while I am here, or what I will accomplish. But despite my fabulous community, friends and family, I needed this change. I called my twin last winter and said I need something more. He said, "Move out of Bend. The world is waiting for you." And I laughed, "Sure what will I do with my house, life, job, dog, etc?" Change is hard for me. And little did we know, I would end up here in Bali. And that is where my thoughts are today. Still in awe that I live here, excited about the possibilities that are out there and willing to make the shifts to change what I need to change.

So a year ago this weekend, I was camping on a lake, enjoying the cool night while sitting around a fire, passing the whiskey with friends. Loving the crisp change in the air. Excited about fall, the Sisters Folk Fest and my flight to Nepal the day after. I was alive. And now I am here and having swam in the ocean and walked on the beach, I am back in my bungalow with the sounds of jungle all around me and the kitties are asleep. Wild.