How Did I Get This Way?

I have been thinking a lot lately, which can be a dangerous thing, but I have decided to share some of these meanderings through my mind. I have been mostly thinking about what I have. Well, let me be honest, it came originally from my dwelling on what I have not....until one day I was standing at the sink and turned on the water. Magically, it came rushing out. Clear clean water. Yeah, so what you may be thinking (or if you are regularly reading this, you may already know where I am heading), but there it was, clean, clear, safe, water. I could just hold a glass under the faucet, and there it was, water to drink. Amazing. How did I end up being one of the fortunate ones?

How did I end up being born in a place where this is totally taken for granted. I realized at that moment, how incredibly lucky I am. I am not walking 3 miles, to get a little bit of clean water to drink. I am walking to my kitchen sink. Then I started thinking about all the other things that I have that make me feel incredibly lucky. I won't bore you with all these, it is the same things most of you have. A roof over our heads, a car or at least public transportation to get from here to there, a telephone, the internet, wow. Really, how did I end up just plopping down in the middle of a place where things are easy. But yet we complain. Well, I guess I should not use "we", I complain. I imagine you do to, it seems pretty normal for those of us who have everything, to think we want or need more. I wonder what the person in Africa, who has to walk those 3 miles are dreaming about? Maybe the same things as I do. But, I bet there is a huge difference too.

Then I realized how lucky I am because I have done a lot in my life time. Possibly because I have never settled down into a family, or a relationship, I have had the freedom to do a lot of living. I have had so many adventures, that I can't even remember some of them. How lucky is that? I have traveled through most of these 50 states, 7 European countries, and most of Canada. I have experienced other cultures either through living with them, or being friends with a vast variety of people. I know what living in Appalachia feels like, where blue grass music was born. I have had numerous Native American friends and been very lucky to be invited into their culture (my mother was born and raised on the Fort Peck Reservation, which was just one of many times I was living close within this culture). I have done so many things that some people only dream of....walking on fire, shooting class 5 rapids, living in the 60's and 70's (enough said,,wink wink), living through 2 volcanos, 3 hurricanes, a few tornados, one major flood, numerous blizzards and ice storms, and a sand storm. I have met famous people, and people who should be famous. I have even attended an NFL game.

I have hiked in majestic mountains, walked across prairies and on beaches. I have flown in the skies in small planes and jets. I have seen the glaciers in Glacier National Park that are now almost gone. I have watched Old Faithful shoot toward the heavens on countless occasions. I have ridden in semi trucks, rode with a motorcycle club (gang really), lived in a motor home and a teepee. I have lived in very large cities, medium size towns, and a tiny little village. As the song says, "I've been everywhere, man".

Then there are the things that were not easy, but I still feel very lucky to have been placed in these situations...working with children with leukemia, people with Alzheimer's, teens at risk. I have been involved in various churches, a separatist lesbian community, practiced Buddhism, and have many friends who are witches who have shown me how to love the Earth and all it has to give us. I have been involved with a school for psychic healers, where I was there to help them learn by rating their readings/healings of me.

I have lived within the creative community of the arts and performing musicians. I was a starving artist, I have performed in bars, and for crowned heads in Europe. I have lived a life where money did not matter, when my father was considered quite wealthy, as compared to now (and other times in my adult life) where I am living below the poverty level.

I could go on, I could go on for hours....I am so lucky. I also feel very blessed by the people who have come and gone in my life. I have had long lasting relationships with childhood friends, and brief encounters that were all intense and lovely and full of learning opportunities. I have had amazing kindness shown to me, as well as cruelty and abuse. I have cried over lost loves, lost friendships, lost pets. But, I have laughed, and laughed hard and long. I am so very very lucky.

How did I end up being who I am? Nature? Nurture? I believe by being mostly open minded and non-judgemental (or at least I try), this has allowed me to take in all these varied and marvelous adventures in life. And, it is all an adventure, now isn't it? One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite television shows was by Ed Chigliac on Northern Exposure. I don't remember the exact quote, but it was something like "all we have to do is wake up each morning and we have the possibility of another adventure". I like that. Even now, even when my body feels like every single one of these past listed adventures has taken a huge toll on it....waking up each morning still holds numerous possibilities for a new adventure. I may not hike the Appalachian, but something else just as wonderful will come along. I just have to wait, and be open. My adventures are not over. I am lucky. Because not only do I have endless opportunities for wonderment and awe in my life.....I can turn on the water, and take a drink right from the tap. How did I get so lucky?