Lessons from the Yoga Mat

So as part of starting over and taking better care of myself, earlier this year I had started taking a yoga class. I hadn't done yoga since college (you know, just a couple of years ago) and while challenging, it felt good to bend and stretch and flow through the poses. Pretty sure the instructor was being kind with her comments - from what I could see in the mirror, my stiff, unflexible body did not exactly match what the others in the room were doing. Lots of self talk to get through that first class....thought I was gonna die when she said, OK now that we've warmed up, let's get started...warmed up? Now we're starting?? Uh, oh....

Well, I survived, and went pretty regularly for a while, then work interfered, then a client changed nights for their regular appointment, and it's not close to home, and, and, and - pretty soon I had a lot of, you know, perfectly good reasons why I was no longer going to class.

Fast forward a few months. My body was strongly suggesting to me that I needed to get it moving again. It was not happy with the neglect. Walking is good, but it wanted more. Again with the excuses - work, clients, time, cost, etc...blah, blah, blah.

So one day I'm in my favorite new age store here in Laguna, and what jumps off a shelf at me? A Body-Mind Flow yoga DVD. Bingo! Just what I need! And I have just enough room in my studio for my yoga mat - Ha! my "yoga studio" LOL

So of course the DVD sat on my shelf for a couple of weeks. OK, now it's time to get serious. Decide I'm going to do this at least once a week. Get up early and work out to start the day. Ahahaha!! Me? Get up early? If you know me, you know how funny that was....  OK, one night a week after work, as if I were going to a class. 

So the decided upon day rolls around, and, of course, I end up working late to meet some deadlines, and I have to make a few stops on the way home. Final stop was at the grocery store to pick up a few things, so I grab a frozen dinner since I didn't want to take the time to cook something. Get home, it's later than I wanted, but I'm committed. Go to put my dinner in the toaster oven and realize, huh, this will take 30 minutes to cook. Crap. Well, it may take the same amount of time as if I were cooking, but at least I won't have dishes to clean up.

Finally eat and get organized. OK - get my official yoga clothes on, get out my mat, and yup, it fits right down the middle of the room. Get the DVD, get my laptop, and get started.

I know most of the poses, so I should only need to glance at the screen, right?
Wait, did she just say left over right, or right over left? OK, laying down, twist left, look right, arm out, and crap, I guess my arm needs to go under the dresser. Eeww - how much cat hair is under the dresser?? Guess I missed that with my broom. Anyway, back to yoga. Twist right, left arm out, and guess my arm will be bent since I just hit the couch.  

OK, we're good with the downward dog, cobra, warrior, wait now we're standing and twisting again, shit, just knocked over the pen holder on the dresser. Good thing I didn't light my candles, since they are right in the target line for reaching and twisting - don't really want to explain to the landlord how I burned the place down because I was doing yoga...

Now I'm turning and twisting and trying to see my laptop because I'm not too sure I'm doing what she just said - I'm doing my Linda Blair "Exorcist" impression as I'm in a pose that would work in a game of Twister and I'm turning my head all the way around to see if this is really a pose.

Adjust and survive that, and at about this time I'm thinking and feeling that eating dinner right before starting wasn't the best idea....

Oh, and add in that the cat has decided to help by standing in the way, or sitting on the mat, or walking across me when I'm on the floor.  

Finally get through all the flows and get to the cool down part - YAY!  I survived! Just need to make a few adjustments going forward.

Is it perfect? Definitely no. Is it something I will continue to do? Yes. Would it be better to be in a class with an instructor? Of course. But until I find a class that fits with my budget and schedule, I can at least get my body moving.

The lesson? Just start. If there is a pattern or habit that you want to change, set the intention and just start. I have a friend who likes to ask "What are you waiting for??" We are about to start a new year. Wouldn't it be great to start a new habit now and carry it into the new year? Or stop a habit and leave it behind so that it doesn't carry into the new year?  

I am making yoga work in my giant abode. Find something you'd like to do and, as Tim Gunn would say "Make it work."  

Light, Love, Laughter

Lessons from the Hills

When you come to Laguna, as you drive through the canyon or along the coast, you look at the nature around you, and you look up at the beautiful houses on the hills. Key words here - you look up....

When I first moved here, I was so excited to be walking distance to the beach, as well as the grocery store, and some great little places to eat. After all, I had been walking on a regular basis around the neighborhood I used to live in. Well, maybe not as regularly as I had been. Or maybe I had hardly been walking at all. But when I had walked, it was a walk with inclines. So, of course I was in great shape for walking here.

So, one day early on, I was working on getting settled (and figuring out how to make 300 sq.ft. of stuff fit into a 250 sq.ft. studio), and decided I'd walk down to the store to get a few things to stock my giant pantry. No problem - walk down, get a few things and then walk back up to my place. Huh, hill seems steeper than on the way down.  Oh, well. 

After a while, I decide to treat myself to lunch at The Stand - a great little hole in the wall vegan place just a couple blocks away. Walk over, grab an avocado sandwich (which I highly recommend, by the way), and start back to my place. Huh, the hill keeps getting steeper on the way home, my legs are starting to talk to me, and my breathing is a little harder. I can't be this out of shape, can I??

Next day I reward myself with a morning visit to the beach, so down the hill I go again. Beautiful day - nice brisk walk down the hill, and down the stairs to the sand. Aaahhhh....

After a while of enjoying myself, it's time to get back home to get back to work. Walking back to the stairs, I think they must have multiplied while I wasn't looking.  Were there really that many? Oh well, up I go. And my legs start talking to me. Really?? Stop at the first landing to, you know, just take another look at the waves. Go up a little farther, and stop at the next landing, yup, to take another look at the waves - and catch my breath. Really?? Crap I'm out of shape. Finally make it to the top of the stairs - yay!

Oh, joy, what's at the top of the stairs? A hill. Yay. Struggle to the top. Whew.

Woohoo! A flat area! About a half a block long, and then.....another nice gentle upward slope.

And then...turn the corner, aaaannnndd another hill....I think I'm gonna die....

And a the top of that hill is my street!  Woohoo....which is another upward slope...

So I finally drag my ass up the last part of my street, huffing and puffing to the entrance where my building is...and even the frickin' driveway is an upward slope!!  What cruel person designs things this way???  

Make it to my unit, my lungs and legs telling me all about it, and I figure living here I'm either going to get my butt in shape, or I'm gonna die.  

Well, I didn't die, but it did take a few weeks to get to the point where I could walk pretty much anywhere and not have my body telling me about it. So, why am I writing this now? The past couple months have been extremely busy, and with the days getting shorter, I was getting home too late from work to take my daily walk down to the beach to let go of my day before it got too dark. And, I was stopping by the store on my way home in the car to pick up what I needed. Last weekend I needed to return some library books, so walked downtown. Then I started walking back at the rapid pace I thought I should be able to do. Of course it's uphill all the way home....Huh, my legs and lungs are talking to me again?? Sheesh. 

The lesson? Your body needs love and attention - on a consistent basis. If I can't walk to the beach after work, then I need to find a new way to get my body moving. Part of the "cherish" lesson I wrote about in the previous blog is learning to pay attention to what my body is telling me, and then make changes/adjustments. Our bodies are constantly sending us messages, we just need to get better at listening and understanding, and then taking action.

Enjoy taking care of yourself!  

Light  Love  Laughter



  

Lessons from the calendar

So I'm writing this on Halloween. The scariest thing about tonight? That tomorrow it is NOVEMBER. I knew I hadn't written anything in a while - been busy with all of my busy-ness. Been jotting a few notes here and there with ideas for posts about living small here in Laguna. 

Funny thing - when you let yourself get focused on your busy-ness and daily shit, your griping about how things are (or aren't) increases, and your creativity decreases. Focusing on the small shit does NOT help you focus on your larger life. Huh.

Tired from working on mind numbing things all day at work, you come home and continue with mind numbing stuff at home rather than breaking the spell and working on those longer term goals. It's OK you tell yourself, I'll be more in the mood tomorrow. I deserve to go sit on the beach for a while - then I'll come home and get a few things done - you know, after I check Facebook and my emails....ooops, now it's late and I better get ready for bed.  And, maybe my creativity will kick in tomorrow.  

You post a blog entry in July about a great retreat experience you had....and the next thing you know it's November and you haven't done any writing at all. Just a mess of unorganized notes with possible topics. Huh, thought I was committed this time to writing on a regular basis.  What else have I only committed to half-heartedly??  Hmmm...a few too many things. My great ideas remain only great ideas if I never get started or take any steps toward them.  Nuts. 

It was pointed out recently to me by a friend that I had stalled, that I have been wasting a lot of precious time and the year is rapidly coming to an end. Is this how I want things to be?  

I was then given the gift of the word "Cherish." I was asked if I cherished myself. Um, that would be a "no." I have since found that when you start to cherish yourself, you start to look at yourself differently, to see value, and you begin to make different choices. I would like to pass along the gift of the word Cherish to each of you - take it, accept it, and see how it affects you.  It's a really fun, challenging, eye-opening experience.

So, once again, the blog that came out of my keyboard is not the one I sat down to write. I'll get to those stories of living small and the lessons learned - like learning to survive with a kitchen that I swear used to be a closet and they crammed a counter and a cook top into it somehow, and I also have an update to the evil washer encounter.

The lesson? Please value yourself, value your time, and have fun putting your creativity to use.

Light, Love & Laughter

Lessons from Sedona

So last weekend I was part of the 2016 Frequency of Sedona Experience with Ondre. Was it an experience? You betcha. On sooooo many levels. Hard to put into words, but here goes....

This experience was shared with an amazing group of 21 people. We all showed up with different reasons for being there. Our intentions and expectations for the weekend were varied.  

Some of us had been at the Sedona weekend last year and had grown together over the past year. Some of us had never met. Our ages ranged from 18 to 81. We parted as friends after sharing an experience that you can only really talk about with someone who was there. This year I was blessed to have my Mom as my travel buddy for the weekend, and we had a great time together.

The workshops were intense, surprising, unpredictable, fun, thoughtful and designed to help us grow in body, mind and spirit. We probably left with more questions than we arrived with - and that was the idea. Question! Learn! Grow! Question again!

We started early in the morning and ended late at night.  While maybe physically tired, mind and spirit were stimulated, and we just kept going. The weekend went fast and slow at the same time. (when you're with Ondre that seems to happen a lot...)

The food was specially prepared for us and was fantastic. Our Saturday dinner was an event in itself at a restaurant named Mariposa. Every detail was thought through and contributed to the experience.

In addition to the workshops, we meditated, had quiet reflection time, had great discussions, and at times laughed so hard we cried and couldn't breathe (Leigh, Rita, I really don't think we can ever sit together without causing a disturbance).

The time reconnecting with nature was priceless and immeasurable. If you haven't been to Sedona - GO TO SEDONA. Reconnect with nature, which then reconnects you with yourself and your Source. If you can't make it to Sedona, find your own special place to reconnect (you know, like maybe the beach??). 

Everyone there had "life" happening to them/around them - illness, family situations, financial situations, you name it, it was present. We came together as a community - a new family that supports each other. The room was a safe zone where you could completely be yourself.  

So, what kinds of activities did we have? A lot was crammed into a very short time, and I'll just touch on a couple of things.

Part of the experience was a jeep tour through the vortex areas of Sedona.  Yes, the scenery is breathtaking, but the tour gave us more than the view. Our tour guides were specially chosen to teach us the spiritual, historical, and scientific views of what we were observing and feeling. (I highly recommend that if you take a jeep tour in Sedona, you hire Earth Wisdom Jeep Experience - not your typical jeep ride.)

One of the stops had both a Buddhist Stupa and Native American Medicine Wheel. While there, I could feel the energy from my heart growing, and you could feel the peace around you. I also realized that the colors around me had become more vibrant, and the plants were practically glowing with beautiful rich colors. (Doesn't show in the photos the same way I saw them that day.)

During our morning meditations near a spectacular willow tree, the animals in the area would join us, and we were surrounded by the sounds of nature. Then when we became still, so did they. It was an awesome quiet.  

The lessons?  Too many to list. A foundation was set, and I will be discovering the layers of lessons over the next few days, weeks, months. What I'd like to pass along:

The people in your life are the most important thing you have. Family, friends and community are a gift and are the best medicine you will ever have.

You are a miracle. After a hilarious illustration of our physical creation (which was one of the laughing so hard you couldn't breath segments), the message was that the odds of you being created and here on earth right now are pretty ridiculous. Treat yourself like the miracle that you are, and treat others like the miracle they are as well.

There is a magic in connecting to the earth/nature - work on that connection every day. Daily meditation is a must.

Follow your gut - use your intuition. Practice listening to that little voice. It is never wrong.

Put your whole heart and being into everything you do. We are here such a short time, make it count by being wholeheartedly and unapologetically yourself.  

Photos you ask?? Of course. I took around 200 photos (would have been more, but I didn't always have my phone with me), and I love them all, so choosing which to share was a challenge. Enjoy!

Dusk at Poco Diablo Resort

Mom ready for the Jeep tour

Enjoying the scenery

Group at the Stupa and Peace Park

Tour Guide Kevin explaining about the Medicine Wheel

Contemplation time

View from my seat at dinner at Mariposa

Another view from Mariposa

The awesome willow tree at Poco Diablo

More awesomeness

Beautiful skies

Oak Creek near Poco Diablo

Too many experiences to share them all, and this is only a very small taste of what the weekend held - contact me if you're curious and want to know more. Enjoy creating and participating in your own experiences.

Light, Love and Laughter

 

Learning to hit the curve....

So I started writing a much lighter post on a completely different topic, but this one kept writing itself in my head, so I finally gave up and let it come through....

Life throws curve balls. (With the All Star Game coming up on Tuesday, I'm going with a baseball theme.) I don't care who you are, curve balls are going to be thrown at you. They are hard to predict and keep you off balance. You give a mighty swing, miss and look ridiculous in the process. Or, you get a pitch that comes inside and doesn't break, so you duck out of the way and hit the dirt. You then get back up, dust yourself off, and stand in for the next pitch.  Other times, you get hit by a pitch. You recover as best you can, and then head to first trying to get ready for what comes next. (Sometimes you get nailed by a fast ball and your life gets turned upside down, however today, we are talking about the curve.)

This process of letting go of your old life and creating a new one is, well, not easy. On top of working out who you really are, dealing with all of the emotions and consequences of the impact your decisions make on other people in your life, you also get to deal with....

...the week where work has been crazy stressful, you've been working overtime, have had meetings and/or clients, so you've hardly been home during the week. The cat is not amused at the alone time, and you get up in the morning to find that she has barfed in one of the shoes you were going to wear. Or, when you just want to come home and collapse and curl up in a blanket, you find that she has barfed on the only blanket you have (see previous post as to why this is a problem...)

...or the week where on Sunday night you pay all your bills and realize you have $17.63 left in your checking account, your car is low on gas, the kitchen is low on food, and you don't get paid until Friday. Wait, there's a new reflexology client on Tuesday! No problem - you can put gas in the car now and buy food Tuesday night! And then Monday night the new client calls to cancel. 

There are weeks when everything runs smoothly and you move confidently forward. Then there are the weeks where you have no idea what you are doing and really wonder what in the world you were thinking.  

I have been living on faith since January. The message today is for anyone else who is working on challenges or making big life changes:

When it gets really hard, you have a good cry, sometimes throw a spectacular pity party for yourself, and, then, in my case, you go sit on the beach and reset. You talk to a good friend. You realize that most of the pitches you've been thrown are the curves where you just have to laugh at yourself or just get back up and dust yourself off. You say, "OK God, it's you and me. Let's see what's next."  And then you start paying attention to what's going on around you and really stop, look and listen.  

On a day where you are questioning, you realize that the radio station you are listening to has just played:  "Don't Stop Believing"  "Don't Look Back" and "Don't Stop Me Now"  (yes, this really happened).

A week that you are low on food and cash, a friend calls and invites you to dinner and sends you home with leftovers. The office has food brought in for lunch. The grocery store has a sale with ridiculously low prices on just what you need.

The weather heats up and you realize that none of the summer clothes you wore last year fit you this year (thank you healthy eating and walking for this "problem"). Then a friend shows up out of the blue with a couple pairs of shorts and some t-shirts she was given that she doesn't need and is passing them along.

You bump into something that knocks over a stack of books (which trust me, is easy to do around here) and a book catches your eye that you haven't read in a while. You pick it up, flip it open to a random page - and read exactly what you needed to read in that moment.

You go outside and a butterfly practically flies into you.  Later another one almost flies into your car through the open window. The butterfly is a symbol of transformation: "changing life to such an extreme that it is unrecognizable at the end of the transformation." It is also a symbol of faith and represents the soul.  (I see a lot of butterflies.)

Looking at the license plates around you while driving to and from work, you see the number 4 repeated over and over. And you realize you keep seeing 444 - which can be interpreted that Angels are with you. You look at the wonderful people in your life and realize that your close friends and family are the embodiment of the Angels the number 4 is representing.

The lesson: Keep getting up and dusting yourself off. Keep laughing. Stand in for the next pitch, make some adjustments, and eventually you'll get a hit. It does get easier. God, Spirit, Angels, Universe - whatever you want to call it - has your back. Look around you and you'll see the evidence.

Light  Love & Laughter

Can a washing machine be evil??

So one of the marketing points of my studio (other than the absolutely fabulous location) was that it came with access to a washer and dryer. Yes!! No going to the laundromat!  Never been to one, never needed to, and really was not looking forward to it.  

Property Manager tells me that in the garage used by my two neighbors (us studio people park outside) there is a washer and dryer, and the access code for the garage door is FRAN.  Great!  I'm running out of clothes since the big move, and I finally have a storage thing with drawers to put clothes in, so off to do some wash!! 

First Challenge:  Open the garage door.  OK. Should be simple enough.  Look at the key pad, and press each of the numbers enough times so it spells FRAN.  Nothing happens.  Try again.  Crap, nothing.  I'm now getting annoyed and angrily press each number once that happens to have the letters that spell FRAN.  This works.  Really?? You couldn't just tell me the code was 3726??

Second Challenge: Using the washer.  I look at the instructions, it seems pretty simple, I put in my clothes and soap, start it up, make sure it's going and then go back to my unit (leaving the stupid garage door open).   

Go back a little later to check on things - the light on the machine indicates it's in the rinse cycle, but nothing is happening. I open the lid and see a basket full of water and my clothes just sitting there.  Hmmmm.  Close the lid.  Nothing.  Press the stop/start button. Press it again.  Washer starts to drain, but no spin.  And it sits there, with my sopping wet clothes after it finishes draining. 

Hmmmm.  I look at the instructions again and it says something about the "lid lock" needing to be engaged during the spin cycle.  I close the lid and try the stop/start button again.  The machine starts all over again and starts filling with water - No!!!  Stop!!!  Then the "lid lock" light goes on, so I'm thinking OK, I guess my clothes are getting washed twice. Come back in a while and my clothes are floating in water again NOT SPINNING.  So to outsmart the stupid machine, I change the dial to SPIN/RINSE, hoping that will work.  The lid lock light comes on and the machine starts to spin! 

Hooray!  Except - when it stops spinning, the lid lock light is still on, and guess what? THE LID WON'T OPEN.  Really?  So then I try the start/stop button again, and the machine starts filling with water AGAIN, and I can't open the lid because the damn lid lock won't let me!!!  GIVE ME BACK MY CLOTHES!!!  Of course, neither of the neighbors who share this machine are home, so I can't ask them what the secret is to using the damn thing.  And it just sits there blinking its lights at me.  

Finally, and I can't even tell you what combination of things I did, the lid lock light goes out, the lid will now open, and I can rescue my soaking wet clothes from the washer.  Sheesh!!!

Third Challenge: Using the dryer.  After my experience with the washer, I was almost afraid to put my sopping wet clothes in the dryer.  Wrung them out as best I could, threw them in, closed the door and, thankfully, there was no fucking lid lock, turned it on and watched for a while to make sure it didn't set my clothes on fire or something.  Came back a while later, and guess what?  The dryer is not evil!  It just dries your clothes!!

The next day I ran into my neighbor - I asked about the washer and she says "Oh, yeah, the washer isn't working right, so I take my clothes to the laundromat to wash them and then bring them home and use the dryer."

That would have been good to know....

The lesson?  Get to know your neighbors, and ask about things before using shared appliances.  

Light, Love & Laughter

A fridge? Who needs a fridge??

So, the first week of my adventure held some interesting challenges.  You know, like getting ready for work that first Monday and knowing I had shoes somewhere in the piles, and socks had to be in one of the bags...although I could give my boss a good reason why I was wearing flip flops to the office....

Anyway, part of my getting organized was getting used to and setting up my tiny kitchen. Knowing it was tiny, I didn't bring much to stock it.  And while it has a two-burner gas cooktop, I still needed to get a toaster oven and a mini-fridge (yes, a mini-fridge - did I mention the kitchen is tiny??)  I was using a small ice chest in the interim, and eating take out the first couple days - mainly because I still had piles of crap containers of valuable items piled on the counter top and in the space where the fridge would go.

No problem - the first week I can just be "camping" until Saturday when I have time to go get a fridge and toaster oven.  First stop at the grocery store - OK, let's see - some simple foods to get, that don't need more than a small frying pan and a 2 qt saucepan to prepare.  Oh! grilled cheese would be good!  Oh, wait, need butter and cheese and those need to be refrigerated. Didn't really want them floating in my ice chest.  Hmmm... Eggs!  Eggs are easy, and can be made several different ways!  Oh, wait, those need to be refrigerated too.  Hmm....  Pasta! I can make a bunch of pasta.... except the leftovers would need to be refrigerated.   Hmmm.....peanut butter and jelly it is.  Oh, except the jelly NEEDS TO BE REFRIGERATED. ARGH!!!  Peanut butter and honey it is.  And fresh fruits and veggies THAT DO NOT NEED TO BE REFRIGERATED. Sheesh.

I think that Saturday I was the first one in the door at Home Depot to get my fridge.  Of course, after I purchased it and had the nice Home Depot person find a way to make it fit in the back of my giant car (did I mention I now drive a tiny car too? Honda Fit), I realized I wasn't sure how I was getting it out of my car and into my spacious abode.  Hmmm...guess I'll figure that out when I get home.  

I'm assuming none of my neighbors was paying attention and did not have their cameras out or the video would have hit YouTube by now.  Me, shifting and sliding and managing to get the nice heavy awkward box out of the car, then dragging it up the sloped parking area up to my front door.  Must have been a pretty sight. 

Get it in the door, and then proceed to terrify the cat while I'm destroying the box around the fridge so I can slide it across the tile floor into the space where it needs to go - and then look like I'm playing a game of Twister to get the stupid thing plugged in to the really well placed plug....aaannd it works!  Woohoo!! In 24 hours it will be cold enough and I can buy some food!!!

There are more tiny kitchen stories to come.  The lesson this time?  We can make due with what we have more easily than we think, and we are way more creative and resourceful than we realize.  I could have gone longer without the fridge, but it really does make life easier, and this little exercise helped me to appreciate the conveniences we have available to us.  We are damn lucky to live where we live.

Take care, and appreciate all the small things.  

Light, love & laughter

New Start, New Lessons

When last we left Lynette, she was off on a new adventure, parachute opened and hoping for a soft landing (http://lynettes-nutrition-adventures.blogspot.com/) ....what happened next? did she land? how was the ride? did Timmy get out of the well?  Oh, wait, wrong story....

So Lynette landed in a most marvelous place called Laguna Beach, and the ride has been exciting, terrifying, gratifying, fun, frustrating - you name it.  The last six months have been nothing but lessons, both expected and unexpected, hence the new blog with the new title.  It'll take the next six months to tell you what I've learned, and, I have a feeling, the continuing lessons that are coming my way.

Just before my dad passed last year, we were gathered at my step-sister's house sitting around enjoying each other's company and watching TV.  We watched several episodes of a "Tiny House" show, and wondered and discussed how you could live in a place that small.  Little did I know that at that time we were discussing my future.

250 Square Feet.  Hmmmm..... makes a good sized bedroom, small hotel/motel room.  Or, it could be your entire living space.  When packing to move, I thought I had downsized and was only bringing "the stuff I really need."  And, I figured after I got settled, I could take some of the stuff up to my mom's.  "Ahahaha!"  That was my reaction the first night, sitting on the floor amongst my stuff, with no room left to make a bed. It was really quite humorous.  Slight miscalculation, considering I still had no furniture.

Took a couple days to get organized enough to get organized - and I am still sorting and reorganizing.  Lesson One - what stuff exactly do you "need?"   I'm finding I need less and less.  A lot of the things I thought I would never part with and would store at my mom's have been donated/given away.  The longer things sat here in a pile, the more I realized they were just things.  The memories attached to them were the real value.  I can keep the memories forever - I don't necessarily need the item if I'm just going to store it.  What if someone else could use it to create their own memories??

Lots more stories, lots more lessons, and we'll leave it here for now.  I absolutely love living in my large estate tiny studio in Laguna.  I get to live in a place that people from all over the world come to visit.  I get to reset/recharge every day at the beach.  Every frickin' day.  And I am more grateful than words can express.  

Yes, I guess you can say, while it's been a bit bumpy, I have had a good landing.