Bye Bye and Thank you Sequim!

We are on our car ride back to Fremont today. We ended up spending a good two and a half months in Sequim. Prior to our plans, I had no idea where Sequim was, nor did I know anything about the region. I knew that Ankur mentioned he grew up there and we were invited to his wedding there (which unfortunately, we didn't get to attend). And now Sequim has left a permanent impression on my heart, a world of new connections/relationships and countless memories. 

I want to organize this post based off a book that I just finished reading. It's called The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. This entry isn't going to be about the book itself (although I highly recommend it). I want to use the section titles of the book to organize my thoughts around Sequim. 

The Things We Carried

We carried a lot into Sequim! And we didn't literally carry it but packed our newly bought 2016 Honda Odyssey. We didn't exactly know what we were going to be doing in the next few months but we packed for every possible scenario we could think of. We packed all our camping gear. We packed rain gear, winter gear and clothes that would fit various situations. Amaani and I love doing art and I made a whole art box with crayons, colored pencils, scissors, glue, paper and our favorite doodle pens. Lots of books! Harry Potter 6 & 7 along with the Torchbearers and Ellie for Amaani. Some books on unschooling, a translation of the Gita, the Heart of the Buddha's Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh. And a bunch of fiction reading for me. Food and all the cooking gear with camping. Usually our camping meals are simple but knowing that we would be away for a bit, I actually packed the main Indian spices that are needed for most dishes. Miss Amaani carried plenty of her own things as well - mainly related to her LOL dolls. A computer, chargers for phones, and bikes as well. Phew!

It felt like a lot and it was a lot but still felt simplified and not a whole house full of stuff!

The Things We Learned

There are so many things. The initial ones will be the major ones and then it might get into list form. 

• One of the major themes of the trip was food sustainability. We really got to hone in on our intention of eating what's local, seasonal and doesn't create trash as much as we could. Raj was volunteering at River Run Farm and bringing home fresh veggies. We were menu planning around those veggies. We realized that Indian cooking really allows for some amazing meals that don't need extra ingredients that come in boxes. We learned how to make roti from organic wheat grown in Sequim from Nash's Organic Produce! Usually at home we buy this packaged roti that we can warm up but it's processed, packaged and not fresh. We got into a bartering system for fresh bread in exchange for Indian food that I would cook. This linked into a vision/dream I've had of having tasty, healthy food be part of building community and wellness practices. I got to practice it in smaller scale. I've had this long standing idea to menu plan with folks. Understand what food is their comfort food, what is their budget and trying to create meals and menu plan and grocery shopping for the week to fit that. And then getting to cook together. With the pandemic, cooking together isn't happening but I got to learn how to consistently cook for others on a weekly schedule. I think food and sharing food is a pathway to people's heart and this practice is something that is planting seeds for the future. We made our own salsas instead of buying store salsa. Raj made some damn good granola bars. Before we were obsessed with Z-bars. Delicious but individually wrapped. I watched Ankur make bread and I hope to continue it in Fremont. This is being written once we have reached Fremont and I have succeeded in making 4 loaves so far!!

• Raj and I have always loved eating out. With eating out though comes unhealthy food, eating        larger quantities and more trash. In Sequim, we were able to mostly stick to eating out to once a    week. I am always tempted to eat out. I get hungry, we may not have packed food, sometimes it's  just a distraction thing. But in Sequim, we had a routine down. We packed our food for the day    and got back early enough to cook dinner together. There is a long way to go in this completely  healthy, sustainable, food journey but I'm so grateful to what we've taken with us so far.

          

• Some fun food related new creations have been curtido and this buttercup squash in a paneer makhni sauce. 

• We continued our connection to the Earth and it's capability to grow food. As mentioned earlier, Raj was regularly volunteering at a medium sized organic farm. I won't speak too much on his behalf but he got to see how it was run and the non-Latino migrant farm workers. He would harvest veggies for 4 hours twice a week. Rain or shine. Cutting brussels sprouts, kale, chard, cabbage, and salad greens. I usually have been one to be more likely to stay in the house but in Sequim, I pushed myself to partake in various farm related activities and I enjoyed it. I learned how to plant garlic. I cut off the bulbs for iris flowers and replanted them. There was a community run farm there and various harvesting activities that happened. It was all this meditative process. I still prefer cooking with the food but I hope to be more involved with Raj when he does all his gardening. 

• Communication as a family has been an ongoing theme as well. We had the time and mental space to talk how we wanted each day to look for each family member. Asking Amaani what she wanted to do, what each of us wanted to do and figuring out how to make it work. Raj and I had our mornings to touch base and we also have been reading the Gita together, meditating together daily and building our spirituality together. 

• We learned to live without internet and a phone connection. This was truly a blessing. It made for a few more complications in coordinating hangouts but the phone is such a black hole for being present and mindful. I felt liberated without it. 

• I have never had a time that I am not doing anything. I've gone from college to medical school to residency to working. It's taken me a LONG time to reach a state where I know where I fit in the world of medicine but despite having talked about it for years, we never took a full gap. I always was working and we always chose to stay rooted in the community. I am learning to just be. Initially in the trip, I was definitely having anxious moments in what the heck am I doing sitting idle. I wanted to have an agenda, I wanted to have an end productive point that I could say I did x, y and z. I had a hope of starting to delve into the world of wood working. But then I realized that isn't fully feasible. I'm learning that all these little things are enough. I don't need to do anything to prove my worth/value to the world. I'm working on myself and we are getting to get closer as a family to build the foundations to have the strength and resilience to continue what we do in Oakland. I have also been on anxiety meds for the past two years after years of trying to manage with other skills. It has been a game changer but I wanted to try to taper off my meds. There are no pressures and I wanted to see if I can build my own strength to do it without. As I write this, I've tapered off and it's no joke without the meds. But taking the moments in Sequim to hold on to. Raj and I are also being good about meditation. 

• We built community with the help of Ankur's network and that in it of itself is an ongoing journey. To make new friends, open yourself up, spend time. We learned we still have it and it was amazing to see how Amaani is able to befriend so many! 
  

• Will finish with some fun other stuff that we learned - how a goat is milked, trampoline jumping, how to differentiate between a Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir and Western Hemlock, how nursery logs in the Hoh Rain forest create new life. 

The Things We Didn't Know

• We didn't really know anything about Sequim. We didn't know how long we would stay, what our time there would look like and what we would do. We were worried about being in a mostly White space coming from Oakland. Prior to coming we didn't know if Trump or Biden would win and how we would feel being in Sequim instead of Oakland if Trump did win again. We didn't know how beautiful the Olympic Peninsula is. 

 What We Lost

We thought we lost Valley BB (an LOL doll) in the Hoh Rain Forest but she made her way back!! On the last day we lost Amaani's gloves. We lost my gloves in the Dungeness Spit. A sled in Hurricane Hill. All in all... not bad considering Raj and I are both so absentminded when it comes to things. 

What We Carried Out

All the things we carried in minus the stuff we lost and add a new Instapot, a lot more food and Indian spices. Ankur's fresh bread and a starter that dates back to the Gold Rush. And an intention to continue meditation, local seasonal & less trash creating eating, making fresh bread, conscious phone usage and continue spiritual growth. 

Full link to our photo albums: 

Sequim

Thanksgiving

Hoh Rain Forest

Diwali 2020