Spring \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Bee Hiving Moon<\/p>\n
\u201cEach of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Judy Blume,\u00a0Tiger Eyes<\/em><\/p>\n I have a friend, he knows who he is, who loves to pack up and go. \u00a0Stay a good while. \u00a0Then come back. \u00a0He has tales to tell, too. \u00a0That time in the Caribbean when he thought he was going to die in a bad storm. \u00a0Selling art in the Greek Islands to make money. \u00a0Learning Fiji and Hindi while in the Peace Corps. \u00a0Tai Chi while living in Shanghai. \u00a0Creating an exhibit on safe sex for Thai kids. \u00a0Tango in Buenos Aires. \u00a0Gunplay in Mexico.<\/p>\n I don’t know about fear, but he sure loves change. \u00a0“Change is good,” he said, “I look forward to it.”<\/p>\n Since he began the pick up and go live in a foreign city idea a few years back, I’ve often compared my life choices to his. \u00a0It goes like this. \u00a0Am I too timid? \u00a0Stuck in one place?<\/p>\n I try to answer this question honestly because the answer matters to me. \u00a0Travel is part of my soul, too, and I love foreign travel most of all. \u00a0His choices seem to maximize the experience of being in another culture, being there long enough to sink into the culture, be part of it. \u00a0At least for a while, not just as wanderer from one place to another.<\/p>\n My answer to these questions goes like this. \u00a0I moved so much after I left home at 17. \u00a0Off to college, to a different college, back home for a quarter, then out for good. \u00a0New York for three months. \u00a0Another town. \u00a06 months. \u00a0Wisconsin. a year or so. \u00a0Bought a house. \u00a0Moved to New Brighton for sem. \u00a0Moved into St. Paul. \u00a0Bought a farm, moved up there. \u00a0Sold it. \u00a0Back to Minneapolis to a residential hotel, the Mark Twain. \u00a0Move to Centerville. \u00a0Back to Minneapolis, Stevens Square. \u00a0Out of Stevens Square to Loring Park. \u00a0Loring Park to the Cooper Neighborhood. \u00a0There to Sargent Ave in St. Paul. \u00a0From there to Irvine Park in St. Paul. \u00a0After that Edgcumbe Road, Highland, St. Paul.<\/p>\n Then, 18 years ago. \u00a0Andover. \u00a0Where I’ve stopped moving. \u00a0Kate and I put several thousand dollars into landscaping when we bought this place. \u00a0We wanted to enjoy it as we lived here. \u00a0That brought me into gardening, first perennial bulbs, then other plants in large three-tiered amphitheatre shaped beds rising above our patio, then to the front beds (5) and then after that clearing out a grove of scraggly black locust (thorny and weed like though excellent for fence posts). \u00a0Various experiments in that area until we settled on raised beds and vegetable gardening.<\/p>\n Three or four years ago we hired Ecological Gardens to put in a small orchard and to do some additional work in the vegetable garden areas. \u00a0We fenced these two in to keep the dogs out. \u00a0About the same time I began to keep bees.<\/p>\n We’ve shaped this house into a place supportive of our creative work: \u00a0Kate’s sewing\/quilting and my writing\/research. \u00a0It fits us and undergirds our lives. \u00a0In my mind what we’ve done here is gone deep, rooted ourselves in a place. \u00a0That’s not to say we don’t get out. \u00a0We did tour Latin America last fall and we’ve been many other places.<\/p>\n So, my answer to those questions is that my need was to make a home, a place that could support my life and my family’s. \u00a0It does have losses. \u00a0Kate and I don’t have the pick-up and go options we might in another living situation, but, on the other hand, we have seasonal opportunities for spiritual replenishment. \u00a0We also have a space that encourages us to create.<\/p>\n In sum then, I don’t believe I’m too timid, nor stuck in one place. \u00a0It’s a choice and a good one for me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spring \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Bee Hiving Moon \u201cEach of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go … Continue reading Go or Stay?<\/span>