Back in Bali

After just one week into the new year, I flew from Vancouver to New York and drove down to the New Jersey shore to visit my family, none of whom I’d seen in over three years. I ended up staying one month. This is significant, especially considering that I hadn’t stayed in New Jersey for more than a few days since I was in college there. Then I drove back up to New York City and flew to Zagreb, Croatia, spending over a month in Croatia (with a stop in Italy), Slovenia, Montenegro, and Bosnia before heading East. I spent a few days in Qatar, and then landed in Bali in mid-March. I stayed two months in Bali, then I spent six weeks in Northern Vietnam and Malaysia before arriving back in Bali a month ago.

The last few years wreaked havoc on my body, gaining 30 pounds, inflamed, posture bent and weak, and all the energy of the world has been so loud that I have felt like a live wire, one where when you touch it it sparks because it’s so “on.” It is so strange here in Bali, a bit of a mixed bag so to speak, but I am able to start to quiet down and hear more of myself here finally.

This morning I was sitting out by the beautiful courtyard and pool, and a butterfly, black and cream, danced around the potted trees in front of me for a while. I could breathe a bit as I watched it.