EM to DP to EM to DP

Tomorrow I return home to Empty Mountain (EM), after 3.5 weeks at Deer Park Monastery (DP). And prior to my arriving at DP, Mike was here for 3-months and I was at EM. And 3-weeks after I return home, he and I will both be heading back here to spend 3-months. That’s a lot of back & forth from EM to DP - and a lot of 3’s!

I am anticipating our little cabin to be in a semi-working state of disarray when I return home tomorrow. Mike had to move everything out of the way in order to do the wiring, and while he’s the builder of things at EM, I am the organizer and household tender. Translation: it’s unlikely he knows how & where to put everything back into place. Which is just fine. Our many differences often compliment each other quite nicely. So he can make the necessary messes that are a vital part of the process of building infrastructure at EM, and I can clean them up and tend to the daily upkeep side of things.

As a percolator and slow transitioner, I am not looking forward to leaving DP, simply for the fact that it means I need to go through the whole process of adjusting. But I am looking forward to returning back home to EM, which is what makes departing here feel doable.

It takes some doing for us to prep EM to be gone over the winter months. In the 3-weeks after I get home, we’ll need to: pack up the van for heading south, take down the shop tent by the cabin & store away all the tools, winterize and secure our vehicles, disassemble and store the solar panels, and empty out the rain water collection barrels so the water doesn’t freeze and crack the barrels over the winter. And, ya know, a bunch of other stuff. We all have our sea of logistics for living.

One breath and one step at a time, I remind myself. Life is only ever possible in the here & now.