One Day, Two Totally Different Worlds

I was a bit conflicted this morning as I really wanted to stay for a sweat lodge ceremony that was being offered (I've never been to one and they sound interesting to experience, at least once). Problem: the sweat lodge was at 2:00, it lasts up to two hours, it's a two hour drive home, and I was hoping to leave my house at 5:00 to get to the booksigning.

Plus me and dehydration are such good friends that I was honestly a little afraid that a sweat lodge may mean an unplanned extra night at the retreat while I recovered.

Since I would have to clean out my cabin later, I decided to save myself some time and began organizing things.

And found my underwear. At least I could drive home in comfort. Except that as I was standing up to leave the cabin, I had a sudden sharp pain in my back on the right side.

Boogers. I somehow put a rib out. No Dr. Amy here and the earliest I could go visit her would be Saturday--if I could get an appointment.

Barely made it to breakfast and then went to the hot springs for another Watsu session. One of the other girls in my class worked on my shoulder (probably to shut up my whining about it). She commented, "You know, this 'practicing patience' may be good for your character, but it's hell on your shoulders."

We practiced some new techniques and then a group of us went to a different tub to continue to practice. I haven't mentioned yet that in addition to wearing swimsuits, the pool we were using was reserved for the class, so there were no "kibbles and bits" (as one person in the class referred to anatomical gender differences) hanging around. The group of us that went to a separate pool to continue practicing (still in our swimsuits) ended up sharing the space with lots of exposed kibbles and bits. While I'm used to that, especially in the hot springs environment, it still felt like a clash while practicing Watsu, even though both practitioner and recipient were covered.

Interestingly, we all discovered quickly why Watsu is done in body-temperature water as this pool was about 105 and we all overheated (which happens much more quickly with your head in the water). We left the kibbles and bits behind and headed off to clean out our cabins. I also decided to take a shower in one of the river-view outdoor showers (which are actually totally private) and dressed (comfortably) for the drive home. Back for our final land training and wrap up, and then found out that the woman I'd carpooled with wanted to go back later and had found a separate ride.

Although I'd planned on staying for lunch, the sudden freedom to go home and see my daughter was more inviting, so I left.

I will admit, the first stop I made was to get a cheeseburger. After picking up my daughter, I swung by my emergency backup chiropractor to see if I could be squeezed in for an appointment. No such luck, so I booked him for 8:00 tomorrow morning.

Got home, made arrangements for my daughter to visit the neighbor (from the hands of one of my village to another) so I could go see Jen Lancaster at her booksigning.

The drive there--which should have taken 20 minutes--took me an hour and 15 minutes. Further, Google maps had failed me for the third time in a row and I had problems finding the bookstore.

Despite arriving 45 minutes early, there was no seating available.

I did get to ask/tell her that I would love to see her take on a sustainable living community like the one I'd just visited. Didn't think until after the signing that when she asked me what I thought of it that I should have answered, "It's all fine and good, but the first thing I did when I left was go get a cheeseburger."

Despite waiting in line for an hour for her to sign my books, I got home at a reasonable hour. Unfortunately, I was too tired for the chores that awaited me, so I decided to crash and--perhaps delusionally--set the alarm for early so I could get things done in the morning.